Santa Fe is a city of many diverging elements coming together to create a unique city. The art of the Navajo, Apache, and Pueblo people; and the multitude of art galleries and jewelry stores; the churches and religious sites; the unusual round State Capitol building; and the original adobe buildings; the restaurants; the museums, all combine together to give the visitor and the residents a place that stimulates the senses.
My husband, who is enamored with AI, asked what would be the best 2.5 hour walking tour of Santa Fe. Its description of four places became our morning walking tour. None of these places take long to visit, unless you want to stay longer. For this ‘tour’ you will be walking up hill on the Old Santa Fe Trail Road, which is right by the La Fonda Hotel downtown. Finally, you can always take your water bottle in with you.
The Loretto Chapel and its mysterious, mystical stairs is worth the visit. The chapel was once part of a girl’s school and was designed by the same architect as the Santa Fe Cathedral. The mystery of the stairs starts when the architect died before the staircase was built, the nuns were distraught and prayed for help. An unknown carpenter appeared, built the stairs and disappeared.
The staircase is a lovely gem to see, whether you believe that it was built by St. Joseph or not. How it suspends and curves upwards without support is astonishing. And it is beautifully carved. But besides the beauty of the stairs, the chapel itself is lovely. While you sit and visit, you listen to the story of the stairs. This is no longer a consecrated church, so religious services are not held.
Two blocks further up the hill on Old Santa Fe is East De Vargas Street. Turn left to walk through a narrow road to the Oldest House in Santa Fe, but I recommended you first go across the street to the San Miguel Mission Church.
The San Miguel Mission Church sits on a hill on the hill. Probably a good place for watching what is going on around you. It is the oldest Catholic Church in the United States. People can attend mass on the first Sunday of each month.
It is not a big building, but it has a big history. First built soon after the Spanish came into Santa Fe in 1598, the mission church was used by the Franciscan priests who came to New Mexico with the Spanish to convert the indigenous peoples and serve the Spanish settlers. It was partially destroyed in 1680 when the pueblo peoples revolted against the Spanish and the church for the cruel treatment. They burned the roof, destroyed some of the walls, and killed the priests. The church was rebuilt when the Spanish returned about 30 years later.
When you walk in there are two artifacts to notice. The first you see on the — the Victory bell that was brought from Spain. The bell had a long history that included helping Spain expel the Moors. The story is whenever the bell rang, the Spanish had a victory. The bell came to New Mexico for a Spanish family. But after the Pueblo Revolt, when the Mission was rebuilt the bell was put in the church belfry. The second item hangs on the wall to the left. It is a 300-year-old replica of the painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe from the Mexico City Basilica.
The church itself is small and simple. The wooden ceiling is wonderful. After you finish viewing the chapel and listening to the talk by the docent, please go down the stairs to the second room. There are photographs that show the building from different angles, as well as two photos of the oldest house before it was restored.
Now you can go out of the chapel and down the steps to the side which lead to De Vargas Street. Immediately across the street is the oldest house. The house, from the 1600s, is built on the remains of a home in what once was part of a pueblo It is attached to a gift store.
You go into the store and to your left to enter the house. There are just two rooms to see and they are tiny. But as all sites, it is worth seeing to understand how people lived. If you are a bit claustrophobic, try to go when there is a not a group going in. It gets tight.
When you are done at the oldest house, return to Old Santa Fe Trail Street and continue past the San Miguel Mission. Turn right on Paseo De Peralta. You will soon come to the State Capitol building. It is unusual in that it is both round and NOT built in the pueblo style. (Which is what I thought it would be!). When we went there was an art show on display. But even if it is not there, it is worth going in to see the rotunda and the lovely architecture. You basically walk in the main door and go out the back door getting you back to E. De Vargas street.
After this part of our tour, we went for lunch! There are many, many excellent restaurants in the Plaza area. So go and enjoy. Also while walking around you will see many galleries and statues/art on the sidewalks. Take time to enjoy them. You might want to take a break and rest after lunch or do this next part in the morning.
Martyr’s Cross and Marcy Fortress. There is a way to drive to get closer to this site, but my husband and I did not have a car, so we walked. It is located on Paseo de Peralta, the same street as the capitol building, but in the other direction. Depending on where you are staying will determine how you go. But since we stayed near the Cathedral, we took Palace Avenue to Paseo de Peralta and turned left. You can see the cross on the hill and just head in that direction!
The entrance to walk up is marked by an adobe sign and arch. You are going up hill. There are rest areas where you can sit at the ends of each switch back. And take water!! It is dry in Santa Fe. The walk up was fun. Along the way are plaques that tell the history of Santa Fe, and as you go higher the views get better and better.
The Cross of the Martyrs honors the 21 priests and 380 Spanish settlers who were killed during the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. The first cross was erected in 1920s. Over time it was replaced twice, the last time in 1977 with a metal cross.
To be honest, we did not continue up the path to see the ruins of Fort Marcy. It had been a long day, and we still had to walk about a mile or so back to our hotel. But you can easily get to it. But that path is not paved.
However, we did get some fantastic photos of Santa Fe from the top.
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