Dania Beach

Whether it's today's fun or yesterday's mementos, Dania Beach, named for its early Danish settlers, has a part in it. Antiquities and antiques sound a major theme through this 90-year-old community.

In the solemn halls of the Graves Museum of Archaeology, one can explore the feathered culture of the Maya, Inca, and Aztec. Here one can examine the mysteriously decorated tribal masks of Africa or the delicately crafted tools of ancient Floridian indians or even enter the portals of an Egyptian temple.

Nearby stretches Dania Beach's famed Antique Row, over 150 antique shops offering buyers the bittersweet memories of more recent yesteryears.

Also of ancient character, but more swift of pace and more current of interest, is the year-round playing of the spectator sport of jai-alai (pronounced hie-lie). Played by professionals called "pelotaris" at the Dania Beach Jai-Lai Palace, this is the fastest ball game in the world, evolved from an ancient Basque game developed in the 15th century hillside towns of the Pyrenees Mountains of northern Spain. In a three-walled, 175-foot-long court called a "cancha," players (singles or doubles) hurl the small, golf-ball-hard "pelota" out of basketlike slings, or "castas," at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. Enthusiasts watch in air-conditioned comfort, placing legalized bets on their favorite champions.

The rhythm of ancient placidity follows one in feelings and thoughts as one hikes, or contemplates the ever-present ocean, from within the 244 acres of Dania Beach's John U. Lloyd State Recreation Area, a seashore park offering nature hiking and boating, as well as fishing and picnicking. The 1/2 mile strip of Dania Beach's beautiful beach, mostly in its natural estate, with its beautiful sand and water, well deserves its widespread reputation of exceptional beauty.