.All Trips / Florida / North America / Southeastern USA

Visiting an Ancient Spanish Monastery — in Florida??

00 Ancient Spanish Monastery (36)

How could an old Spanish Monastery be located in North Miami Beach?  Herein lies the interesting background of this story.  

This Monastery was built between 1133 – 1141 A.D. near Segovia, in Northern Spain.  It became known as the Monastery of St. Bernard de Clairvaux. — St. Bernard was a Cistercian monk and influential church leader, and the founder and abbot of the Abbey of Clairvaux.  Cistercian monks lived in this Monastery for nearly 700 years.  After a social upheaval in the 1830’s, the Monastery’s Cloisters were seized and converted into a granary and stable.

 Ancient Spanish Monastery, North Miami Beach

Ancient Spanish Monastery, North Miami Beach

Enter legendary American publisher, William Randolph Hearst (of California’s Hearst Castle fame).  In 1925, Hearst purchased the Cloisters and the Monastery’s outbuildings (the church was not part …

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.All Trips / Czech Republic / Europe

Strahov Monastery, Prague

Prague 2010 041.  Strahov Monastery

One of the great things about visiting a city like Prague is having the opportunity to see and explore so many interesting historic sites.  As an example, the Strahov Monastary.

The Monastery has beautiful architecture and a picturesque setting near Prague Castle, but it is best know for its lavish library of ancient texts and manuscripts.  So elegant is this library that it was used for filming scenes in the movie, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  There’s also an interesting small church to explore, the Basilica of the Assumption of our Lady.  And an excellent monastic brewery at which to enjoy another of the monks’ creative endeavours.

Strahov is one of the oldest monasteries of the Premonstratensian Order in the world, operational nearly continously …

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.All Trips / Europe / Ireland

A Visit to Ireland: Part 12) the Valley of the Boyne

050b Valley of the Boyne Mellifont Abbey

This post concludes tales of my road-trip around the Emerald Isle (though I’ve still got a few things to share about Dublin).  I don’t think this road-trip series could end with a more appropriate destination than the “Cradle of Irish Culture and History”, the valley of the Boyne.

The Boyne River Valley is less than an hour’s drive north of Dublin, close enough to do as a day-trip but a longer visit is most definitely recommended.  A valley of rich pasture and farmland with the Boyne River snaking through counties Meath and Louth on its way to the Irish Sea.  You’ll be tempted to sit on its bank and throw a fishing line in (and might catch a trout or salmon …

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