Tour of Santa Fe, New Mexico

We had a beautiful, sunny day for our walking tour of Santa Fe.  I packed our picnic and we got an early start.

Love the vivid colors

The tour, although 6 miles in length, wove in and out and around the central downtown shopping and art districts and we were probably never more than a mile from our truck at any one point along the way.

One of the many art galleries in the art district

This town is like an art lover’s Mecca.  Art galleries dot the entire city, but Canyon Street is the art district.  Our walk took us down 7 blocks along this street of one gallery after another with the occasional cafe thrown in to break up the monotony.   At many galleries there were sculptures outside which we thoroughly enjoyed.

A Garden of Sculptures

Rock, Paper,  Scissors

The capitol building was a much more modern structure that most of those we have visited before.  It is a modest, 3-story circular structure with each house of government on its respective side.  The rotunda did not have a dome so typical of many state houses, but a flat circle of stained glass in a simple Southwest design.  The building also houses a very impressive art collection which we could have spent more time with had our stomachs not been growling.

Capitol Building

The Plaza is the heart of old Santa Fe.  This is the terminus of the 800-mile Santa Fe Trail from Missouri.  Other historic trails ended or started here, as well.  This was the end of the 1800-mile Camino Real from Mexico City and the beginning of the 1120-mile Old Spanish Trail to Los Angeles.  Today, the center of the Plaza is a green space with grass and park benches surrounding the Soldier’s Monument.  Along the perimeter are shops selling everything from ice cream to hand crafted pottery and jewelry.  Under the portal of the Palace of the Governors, Native Americans had blankets spread on the sidewalk where they displayed their wares for sell.  The Palace of the Governors was established in 1610 and has served as the seat of government under Spanish, Pueblo Indian, Mexican and US Territorial rule.

Top of the Rotunda at the Capitol

Mother Earth

Churches along the route included St. Francis Cathedral and First Presbyterian Church.  The Cathedral is having a facelift and shrouded in plastic so we were unable to see the French Romanesque architecture.  There was also a funeral in process preventing us from going into the sanctuary.  The Presbyterian Church is the oldest protestant denomination in New Mexico.  The San Miguel Mission was also on the tour, but since we were there yesterday, we walked on by.

One of the courtyards off the plaza

Six miles took its toll and we were both ready to call it quits by the time we got to the truck.  Having spent most of the day on foot, we will probably spend most of tomorrow in the truck.  Although our plan is not fully developed as yet, we are thinking of visiting Bandelier National Monument and the Los Alamos area.