GET TO KNOW GLORIOUS GANDIA

Step back in time and discover the fascinating story of Gandia, from its earliest beginnings to its modern-day transformation. This engaging presentation explores the city’s royalty and noble families, arts and crafts, trades, and its remarkable architecture, buildings, and monuments that shaped its history.

📍 Location: Cozy boardroom at Benitachell Properties

📽️ Format: Slideshow on a big screen

🎤 Speaker: Spain Historian - Karla Ingleton Darocas, B.A. (Hons)

🗓️ Date: Monday, January 19, 2026

⏰ Time: 11:00 H

💶 Fee: 10 euros

🍷 Optional: Follow-up Q&A session and tapas at the bar opposite for those who’d like to continue the conversation.

A relaxed, informative, and social morning for history lovers and curious minds alike.

👉 Spaces limited — all welcome!

Resource Reading 

PAPERBACK

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Marina Alta region is a diverse terrain within the province of Alicante. Its neighbour, Gandia, is a city and a municipality. Both are located within the Valencian Community on Spain’s eastern Mediterranean coast. 

As well as stunning landscape this area is full of historical and artistic landmarks that tell you much about the heritage and culture of Spain itself. This book reveals where these places are to be found and details the wealth of treasures you will discover on this journey. 

If you are looking for the real Spain that is not usually found on the standard tourist trail, then this book is where to begin. 

Included is a detailed guided tour of the Ducal Palace of Gandia, which from the 14th century, was the residence of the Royal Dukes of Gandía, and from 1485, the Borja family. It was the birthplace of Saint Francis Borja. It is an Asset of Cultural Interest since 1964. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karla Ingleton Darocas is Canadian married to a Spaniard and based in Benitachell on Spain's Costa Blanca. She is an educator with a passion to inspire and facilitate a lust to learn. Her love of Spanish art, architecture, and history is infectious, and she attracts art lovers to her lectures. 

Other Information & Resource by Author 

SpainLifestyle.com and KarlaDarocas.com.

TABLE‌ ‌OF‌ ‌CONTENTS‌ 

• Teulada’s Fortified Baroque Hermitage Of San Vicente Ferrer 
• The Beautiful Baroque Parish Churches Of The Marina Alta * Benimaurell * Campell * Beniarbeig * Parcent * Alcalalí 
• The Royal Marsh Is Gandía’s Watery Paradise 
• Discover Famous 17th Century Polychrome Busts In Gandía 
• A Detailed Guide To Gandía’s Pretty & Important Palace

REVIEWS

"I bought this book about the Marina Alta Region because I wanted to know more about Gandia. I found out so much info, in detail, about things I know I would have missed if I just visited without having this book by my side. The book also has info about Teulada, Beniarbeig, Parcent and Alcalali, etc, but I was particularly interested in Gandia. - Sarah Farrell

Timeless Masters Arrive in Valencia: A Free Exhibition of Europe’s Greatest Art

A major free exhibition has opened in Valencia, featuring nearly 90 paintings by renowned masters.

JÁVEA Historical WALK

Explore and Learn About JÁVEA by visiting its historical architecture and monuments 

* Guide * Arts Historian, Educator & Author - Karla Ingleton Darocas, B.A. (Hons) 

BOOKING INFO & FORM

Starting January 2026

EXPERIENCE SPAIN LIKE NEVER BEFORE

Join SpainLifestyle.com for a morning at 11:00 with Karla Ingleton Darocas, B.A. (Hons), historian, author, and teacher. Enjoy immersive learning, storytelling, and visual exploration from the comfort of a cozy chair in the boardroom of Benitachell Properties in beautiful Benitachell.

Discover Spain’s iconic cities, architectural gems, historical milestones, and hidden treasures, along with a few lesser-known destinations that may inspire your next adventure.

Sign up for the mailing list at SpainLifestyle.com to receive your invitation with dates and times.

Spain’s Arts & Architecture Appreciation Classes

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Discover Spain’s Arts & Architecture with Appreciation Classes 

by Karla Ingleton Darocas, BA (Hons)

Unlock the beauty and stories behind Spain’s most iconic artists and architects — from the bold brush strokes of Velázquez and Goya to the visionary designs of Gaudí and beyond.

These inspiring classes take you on a visual journey through Spain’s great art movements, masterworks, and architectural marvels.

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🏛️ What You’ll Experience

✔️ Explore the lives and works of Spain’s legendary artists

✔️ Decode the symbolism, styles, and techniques of major art movements

✔️ Learn how architecture reflects history, power, faith, and innovation

✔️ Enjoy captivating full-screen slideshows and passionate storytelling

✔️ Join a friendly, curious community of culture lovers

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📍 Class Info

🗓 Mondays at 11:00 

📌 Venue: Boardroom at Benitachell Properties SLC
Carrer Pare Plácido, 57, Planta Baja, 03726 Benitachell, Alicante, Spain

Instructor: Karla Ingleton Darocas, BA (Hons)
📧 Email: info@SpainLifestyle.com
📱 WhatsApp: +34 648 156 066

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🌟 Art comes alive when you understand its roots.

Join to see Spain through a new lens — insightful, inspiring, unforgettable.

Joaquín Sorolla Exhibition at the Fundación Bancaja, Valencia

Recently, I had the great pleasure of visiting the Joaquín Sorolla exhibition at the Fundación Bancaja in Valencia with nine of my students. It was a truly remarkable experience. For me, it was especially thrilling to encounter several paintings that have long remained in the Sorolla family’s private collection, works that earned recognition and awards in academic exhibitions not only in Spain but across Europe and the United States.

MASKS OF THE YOUNG PICASSO

I AM STRUCK by the composition and spatial distancing of the characters in Picasso’s 1900 painting, "Pierrot and Colombina", which creates an interplay that seems to mirror his own sense of being an outsider. Pierrot and Colombina, the central figures in this work, are not inventions of Picasso’s imagination but rather theatrical archetypes from the Italian Commedia dell’Arte, which migrated across Europe and became immensely popular in Paris by the late 19th century.

Picasso’s Child with a Dove

IN 1901, PABLO PICASSO was barely twenty years old, brilliant, ambitious, and already restless. He had left Spain to chase success in Paris, where modern art was reinventing itself in the cafés and galleries of Montmartre. But that same year, his closest friend, Carlos Casagemas, took his own life, a loss that left Picasso heartbroken and profoundly changed. Standing between youthful optimism and personal grief, he created Child with a Dove, a painting that captures both innocence and the first shadow of sorrow.

Discover Sorolla: Bancaja Foundation

THIS OCTOBER 2025, we have a very special opportunity to continue our exploration of Joaquín Sorolla’s art outside the classroom. As many of you know, the Sorolla Museum in Madrid is temporarily closed for renovation and expansion. Because of this, an extraordinary collection of Sorolla’s masterpieces will be traveling to Valencia for a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the Bancaja Foundation, opening on October 3, 2025.

The exhibition will bring 60 of Sorolla’s most representative masterpieces, including two of my all-time favorites such as Paseo a la orilla del mar (Walk by the Sea) and El baño del caballo (The Horse’s Bath). These are rarely shown outside the Sorolla Museum, so to see them in Valencia is truly fabulous. 

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APPRECIATE ART & CULTURE * LOVE SPAIN
Resource Books written by
Karla Ingleton Darocas 
and published by
SpainLifestyle.com 

* CLICK  HERE *

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The Silent Suffering of Childhood in Sorolla's Spain

DURING THE PERIOD of the great Valencian painter and humanist Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), children's health and social problems were an important issue, and his artwork reflects the harsh realities faced by the most vulnerable members of society. Sorolla's compassionate and often stark portrayals of sick or impoverished children, such as in "Sad Inheritance" (1899), served as a powerful form of social commentary, bringing to light the devastating effects of diseases like polio.

El Beso and Ferrándiz Bádenes

BREAKING NEWS!

The Bancaja Foundation of Valencia has extended the fabulous exhibition “Scenes and Landscapes in Valencian Painting. 19th and 20th Centuries”, which opened on May 9, 2025, until October 19, 2025!

This is such an exciting opportunity to dive into the rich world of Valencian art and experience masterpieces up close. 

Among the incredible works on display is El Beso by Bernardo Ferrándiz Bádenes, a painting that captures all the warmth, tradition, and storytelling of the costumbrista style.

DO YOU KNOW ABOUT XÀBIA’S CORDELEROS?

WHEN I AM taking participants on my walking class around the old town of Xàbia (Jávea Historical Walk), I often remember to tell them about the hemp industry that was once a thriving part of village life.