Day 13 - Santa Fe Sightseeing

At breakfast,we got talking to a couple from Colorado. The woman had been an air hostess, so she had travelled a fair bit and had been to England before. Her husband hadn't but they plan a trip next year. Not sure how he'll get on, as he didn't seem to understand half of what Catherine said!

Fed, we went into town, using a town walk I had downloaded. It took us to the oldest house in Santa Fe (dating to 1647), arguably the oldest church/mission and the playhouse, currently the oldest theatre in operation west of the Mississippi.

The Oldest House in Santa Fe

Next stop was the Loretto Chapel, famous for its staircase. The story goes, that the nuns wanted a staircase in the chapel but everyone said it couldn't be built for lack of space. So, the nuns prayed for 9 days and on the ninth day, a carpenter called Joseph appeared from nowhere and built them a spiral staircase. Once finished he disappeared. The staircase is said to be architecturally impossible, having two 360 degree turns but with no visible means of support. Joseph built it with saw, hammer and wood that is said to be from trees not found locally but plentiful in the Holy Land! Make of that what you will. Whatever, it's a beautiful staircase.

The Loretto Staircase

Making our way past La Fonda, the oldest hotel in Santa Fe, we entered the Cathedral, home to La Conquistadora, the oldest statue of the Virgin Mary in the US. She arrived in Santa Fe in 1625 and was rescued from the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 by the Spanish, who later returned her. It is her return that the fiesta, currently on in the town, celebrates.

La Conquistadora

With a walk round the Old Plaza, taking in the sights and sounds of the Fiesta, I led Catherine to the Five and Dime. She was pleased as punch to get some photos. Then we made our way back to the hotel.

A mishap last night meant I was left without a mouse for the laptop, so we decided to pop up the road to Walmart and replace it. As we were approaching the front doors a lad ran out , followed by another chap. It wasn't clear at first but soon became apparent that the first lad had obviously stolen something and was doing a runner. The pursuer, was never going to catch him, so I guess he got away. It seemed the entire Santa Fe police force was at the Old Plaza, as I photographed some of their vehicles, so I doubt they would have been able to respond too quickly!

Purchase made it was back to the motel.

It wasn't long before it was time for dinner, so we headed out to the Cowgirl again. Plumping for something local, I went for quesadilla, washed down with four taster sized glasses of some of the beers on offer. and very nice they were too.

After dinner we walked back down into the Old Plaza for more of the fiesta, just in time to see a local band, Leonard Sanchez y Karizma, introduced by Miss Santa Fe 2015. Just beforehand though, an excitable woman in the crowd told us Leonard was her brother. It was entertaining enough and lots of people were dancing. It was all in Spanish, so we didn't understand the words to the first few songs but, then they did Elvis' Burning Love and Dawn's Knock Three Times, so we were able to sing along, before making our way back to the motel.

Tomorrow we have quite a busy day, making a stop to visit the old town in Albuquerque, amongst other things, ending up in Gallup at The El Rancho Hotel. I stayed there back in 2010. Rooms are named after film stars who have stayed there, many during the making of westerns, in the surrounding hills.

Till then.