- Zsuzsanna C.
- Monday, December 20, 2021
Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the US. It is located in the southwest. I took this picture on the way Santa Fe.
One of the most beautiful cities in New Mexico is Santa Fe, the oldest capital in the US. The city was founded in 1610 by a Spanish colony. The renowned Pueblo style architecture gives a special accent to the style of the town. Even the Palace of Governors reflects this style. The building also houses the New Mexico History Museum. In the center of the town you can find the traditional Spanish Plaza. When we visited the town, the adobe style buildings, the beautiful flowers, and the Native American handmade art made the Plaza’s atmosphere really unique. We walked in different parts of the town, but no matter where we went, it was an exciting sight.
The city has four seasons. We visited the city in summer and at that time it is supposed to be hot. Luckily the weather was perfect. It was cooler than usual. The surrounding area is semi-arid steppe, which means that the winters are cold.
We couldn’t visit everything in the city during a 4-day stay because we made excursions also. We stayed at an Airbnb in a trailer home at the outskirts of the city. Every morning, Chewey, the llama waited for us to wake up. We gave him apple slivers or carrots. The owner had more llamas locked up in a spacious pen. Llamas are cute animals. In the evenings we enjoyed the sunset and the fantastic view of a starry sky. I never saw so many stars on the sky as in that western edge of Santa Fee.
In 2005, Santa Fe became a UNESCO Creative City. One in 10 jobs in Santa Fe are connected to the arts. We experienced this by touring the Canyon Road art district for at least three hours. This part of the town has at least 100 galleries. We could admire sculptures of every size, some of the bigger sculptures being outdoors. It was amazing! You can’t imagine any art form that wasn’t represented there in the galleries, buttons, paintings in oil, water and acrylic, restored antiques, jewelry, ceramics, textiles, lithographs, kaleidoscopes, glass works and wood furniture, to name a few. The Railyard district also has galleries. Visiting the galleries was worth it, our favorite being the Longworth Gallery. Vladimir Kush Russian painter’s pictures delighted us with metaphorical and magical realism in vibrant colors. The gallery owner showed us a book that tells the story behind his pictures.
Other art museums that we couldn’t visit this time are the Museum of Indian Art Culture, Museum of International Folk Art, Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, and the New Mexico History Museum. One of the great museums is the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Perhaps she was the most famous local artist. That makes us return later to enjoy this fantastic town. Actually, we would like to visit Georgia O’Keeffe ‘s house the “Ghost Ranch” in New Mexico, but this was closed due to COVID19. Next time we would like to enjoy the Santa Fe Margarita trail and do a couples’ massage at the Japanese-style Ten Thousand Waves.
We saw the beautiful Opera House, only from the outside as it was closed due to COVID19.
We visited the historic Loretto Chapel in the heart of Santa Fe. This gothic style cathedral has French and Southwestern influences. It has a rare spiral staircase that is without the support of a newel or central pole. The staircase was built mostly from wood and held together by wooden pegs and glue, instead or hardware or nails.
Another important church is the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. It is a Roman catholic church with a Saint Francis Assisi sculpture and a lively garden decorating the downtown of Santa Fee.
Restaurants are amazing in the city. You can try lots of different dishes. New Mexican food is hard to beat. The keystone ingredient is chile. Green is usually spicier than red, but if you’re not sure which one to order, you can always say “Christmas!” and try both. We tried both of them in the La Plazuela restaurant of the La Fonda hotel. We enjoyed the Mexican cuisine, sweet bread, and red and green chile.