Gandía

Gandía is a prosperous commercial town with a lively nightlife, enjoyed particularly by visiting madrileños on the weekends. The town also has a coastal resort, Playa de Gandía, with a long sandy beach recognized as being one of the best on the Costa Blanca. The old town is 4 km (2½ mi) inland and is best known for its sumptuous former palace of the Borja dynasty. Gandía became the Borgia fief after King Ferdinand granted the duchy to the family in 1485. The canny Borgia pope Alexander VI was one of the most notorious of all Renaissance prelates, but the family's reputation was later redeemed by the local Jesuit St. Francis Borgia (1510-72), who was canonized in 1671.