Sightseeing in Santa Fe, New Mexico

We arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico to some great weather. It was cool in the evening and morning and in the afternoons it was very comfortable with the sun out and a nice breeze.

Santa Fe became a capital city 406 years ago and is the oldest capital city in the U.S.  This capital city is also at the highest elevation of any capital city in the U.S. at 7,000 feet. The Palace of the Governors’ is the oldest continuously occupied government building in the U.S. It was built in 1610.

State Capitol Building

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There are three types of architecture that you find in Santa Fe. First, there is the Pueblo style which has an adobe appearance with rounded corners, stucco walls and a flat roof. Next is the Territorial style which is similar to the Pueblo style but with sharp corners and edges on the walls. The last style is called Northern New Mexico and those are homes that we would be most familiar with that have pitched roofs.

Pueblo Style Adobe Structure

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Territorial Style Adobe Structure 

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The plaza in Santa Fe is the centerpiece of the city. It is surrounded by many shops, restaurants, museums, and art galleries. Similar to Sedona, AZ, the people of this area like their life size (and sometimes larger) bronze sculptures.

Plaza in Santa Fe

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 Sculpture of Burro on Burro Alley

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 Horse Sculptures on a Rooftop Restaurant

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Sculpture at an Art Gallery

(The artist is in his 80's and still creating metal sculptures.)

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While in Santa Fe we visited the Loretto Chapel and its miraculous staircase. When this chapel was built in the 1870’s it had a design flaw. There was no way to get to the choir loft unless you used a ladder. When carpenters were asked for advice to build a staircase up to the choir loft, they said that due to the height of the choir loft, a regular staircase would use up too much room in the chapel. Soon after, a mysterious carpenter offered to create a staircase using only the basic tools he had on his donkey. They were a saw, carpenter’s square, a hammer and a tub to soak wood. When finished, the staircase contained 33 stairs that were designed in two full 360-degree turns. The staircase had no center support and it did not have any side support. There were no railings on the staircase. Soon after the staircase was finished, the carpenter disappeared and never sought to be paid for his work. Many years later, out of concern for safety and the stability of the staircase, a railing was added as well as additional side supports.

 Loretto Chapel Miraculous Staircase

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Staircase Before Adding Railing and Side Supports

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We spent part of a day at the New Mexico History Museum and the Palace of the Governors’. The Palace of the Governors’ is an adobe structure with walls that are four feet thick. We viewed cut-a-ways of the building in different areas of the museum to see how the building had originally been constructed. Many displays documented historical events of struggles and battles that took place when the Spanish explorer, Coronado, arrived in this area. There were many other altercations over the years between Native Americans, Mexicans, and the Army of the Confederate States of America. Artifacts such as pottery, coins, weapons and jewelry that were unearthed during excavations were prominently displayed.

Palace of the Governors' and NM History Museum

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The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe was another place on our must do list. It has a collection of over 3,000 of her works comprised of oil paintings, watercolors, and many drawings. There was also a video about Georgia O’Keeffe’s life that we watched before walking through the museum. I was familiar with the artist’s paintings of flowers but didn’t realize she had also painted many Santa Fe landscapes.

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

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Georgia O'Keeffe Art Display

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We took a trolley tour of Santa Fe to not only see the points of interest in the downtown area but also points of interest in the outlying areas of the city. We even drove by the homes of a couple of movie stars!

 Trolley Tour of Santa Fe

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Large Sculpture on the Outskirts of Santa Fe

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