Santa Fe, New Mexico

Old town Santa Fe is simply lovely we stayed at Santa Fe Skies RV Park just outside town.   It’s a nice site, parts of it overlook Santa Fe and other parts look across to the Sangre de Christo Mountains. 

One other thing that made the park a great place to stay was the fact that it’s only about a mile from Santa Fe County/NM 599 New Mexico Rail Runner Station.   The train station is in an interesting location, slap, bang in the middle of the median on I25, seems like a really good use of what would otherwise be wasted space.

It’s a great service and takes about 20 minutes to the Santa Fe Depot where there is a free bus (not Sunday) to take you to the Plaza, all this for only $6.00 return for the two of us.   Saves the hassle of driving, the parking fees (which are not cheap) and trying to find somewhere big enough for the truck.
 

The Governors Palace
 

The Cathedral

 

This staircase in the Lorretto Chapel is amazing and was built with no nails and originally no hand rails either, the nuns used it to get to the choir loft.

There is absolutely no way you’d get me to climb that staircase now, never mind when it had no hand rails.
 

The oldest house in Santa Fe was built on the remains of a pre-Columbian house dating back to 1200.   The vigas (wooden roof beams) have been carbon dated to between 1646 and 1714. 

 

The house also has a ‘witchy’ history dating back to the 1600’s concerning a love potion concocted by two local brujas (witches) for a young Spaniard named Juan Espinoza.   The potion didn’t work and he demanded his money back, the furious brujas refused, Juan Espinoza drew his sword and attacked them.   One stuck out her foot and tripped him the other snatched his sword and cut off his head.   They were immediately charged with murder but as the Govenor was under their spell the case was dismissed and they were never tried.   His body was preserved by the brujas as a warning to others not to oppose them and mysteriously disappeared when they did.   Supposedly on the anniversary of his death you can see his head rolling down de Vargas Street as if the brujas had just flung it there.    I've no idea when he died, but just in case, remind me not to be down that street after dark! 
 

We also visited the Capitol Building, it’s a lovely building but what really surprised us that there were no bag or security checks.

 

When we asked why the building was round, the tongue in cheek answer we got was so that no-one could ever corner a politician.   I bet our politicians wish they’d thought of that when the Palace of Westminster was built!

 

I’ve always wanted to visit Santa Fe but also always wondered if it would be one of those places where the reality didn’t live up to my expectations.   It exceeded them and was absolutely fabulous we thought a week would be plenty of time, but there is so much to see in and around Santa Fe that we plan to return again and make use of that great train service.
 

Sun setting on the Sangre de Christo mountains, taken from the Santa Fe train depot. 

Have fun, we are!