Santa Fe Plaza and Tour

We started our tour of downtown Santa Fe at the Visitor's Center. Unfortunately, it wasn't open.

So we drove closer to the Plaza to find parking......another very expensive proposition in Santa Fe.

There is no shortage of churches and art in Santa Fe and many of the churches are very old. First place we stopped was the Historic Cathedral Church of St. Francis of Assisi which originated on this same site in 1610; however the current church was built in 1886.

It is beautiful inside and outside.

The church was on our way to the plaza.

We made a slight detour to the Loretto Chapel. This is no longer a regular church.....it is a museum and wedding chapel so there is a charge to visit it but it is very unique.

These are the famous stairs. There is a very unique story attached to the stairs which you can read here. It is worth the read and the visit to the chapel.

According to the story, the stairs originally did not have a railing. I can't even imagine trying to go up them without a railing. They are not attached to the wall at any point which makes their building pretty miraculous.

San Miguel Church is the oldest church structure in the country. It was built in 1610.

We had a very interesting experience when we visited San Miguel. A large group of people entered just before we did. They all had earphones on. A speaker stood upfront and told them all about the history of the church. We really enjoyed it. I thought it was rather strange that most of them kept the earphones on while he was talking.....until I noticed a young woman at the side of the church talking quietly through the presentation. I realized that she was translating the words of the speaker. I spoke to her after the presentation was over. She told me that the tour group was a group of law enforcement personnel from central and south America invited to visit the United States by the FBI.

Carolyn headed next door to the Oldest House for a tour. Mary Jane and I waited for her as we had been there before and we needed a break.

How would you like to live in a house built in 1646?

Next we headed towards the plaza.

It was lunchtime and we decided to take a chance on this cart called Roque's Carnitas. The prices were very reasonable, the cook and his helper very personable, and the food absolutely delicious.

We chose the carnitas but it was a hard choice with so many possibilities.

We got there before the crowd so we got to watch our food being prepared.

Mary Jane and I opted for less spicy but, of course, our Louisiana girlfriend asked for spicy.

The carnitas were huge.....one was definitely enough.

Carolyn got the really spicy red stuff.

We decided to take a tour so we could see a lot in a reasonable amount of time.

They spent a little more time than we would have like circling the plaza area which is easy to walk on your own.

But then we headed away from the area.

Just as a reminder we saw another Route 66 sign.

We saw a lot of art along the way accompanied by practiced patter from the driver but it was interesting and is a good way to learn your way around.

I'm sure you recognize this guy.

Art takes many forms.

This is one of the old houses on Canyon Road. Windows are small and doors are short. Most of the buildings are now artist locations.

We went even further up in the hills where there are lots of museums.

All in all, the tour gave us a good oversight of places we might want to go back.