On thursday morning we started after breakfast in our hotel to explore Santa Fe by foot. Being considered one of the most interesting art centers in the world we were first sceptical what to expect: kitsch? tourists' sounvenirs 'made in China'? Real artwork? We were completely surprised about what the city had to offer!
First, architecture is great. As the city grew throughout the 19th century and NM became a U.S. State in 1912, it imposed building regulations – pueblo style or adobe homes in eath-tone colors became the standard, no highrises, no ugly concrete, at least not in Old Town. Second, Santa Fe has about 325 days of sunshine, but nevertheless there are real seasons. Despite of its 7000 ft (2350 m) above sea level, right now we had temps close to frost at night and about 55-60 deg. F. during the day.
Being early-birds and considering the blue sky and sun, we went for a walk too early, since most shops (and, of course, museums) only open from 10 to 5. Most tourist activity takes place in the historic downtown, especially around the Plaza, adjacent to the Palace of the Governors, the original seat of New Mexico's territorial government since the time of Spanish colonization. Under the arcades of the Governors Palace indian artists were just setting up their blankets on the floor where they sell their artwork, mainly silver bracelets, earrings, rings etc. - nice pieces, authentic and affordable (see pic).
Santa Fe - the oldest capital city in the U.S. – was founded by Don Pedro de Peralta in 1610 and in the same year the Plaza and the Palace of the Governors were built. Nowadays about 82.000 people live in Santa Fe (with only about a total o 2,1 Mio. in New Mexico). Santa Fe is well known as a center for arts and there is a high concentration of artists and galleries. One of the most well-known New Mexico–based artists was Georgia O'Keeffe, who lived for a time in Santa Fe. The New Mexico Museum of Art and Georgia O'Keeffe Museum own several of her works. We visited this wonderful museum first thing in the morning and got a tour in the museum and the research center. Wished, we would have planned in advance to see the Ghost Ranch and O'Keeffe's house in Abiquiu as well on our way to Santa Fe!
On to the Shiprock Santa Fe Gallery, a high-class gallery focused on native american rugs, pottery, jewelery and other items, high quality, great pieces, but - unfortunately - not our price range. Our lunch at Santacafe with John from Santa Fe Tourism was delicious, highly creative southwest-inspired food. The owner is Judith F. Ebbinghaus, of German descendance, and the restaurant has an excellent reputation and is a "tradition" since 1983 in Santa Fe.
After lunch back to work: All in walking distance from the downtown Plaza, we visited a couple of museums: The New Mexico History Museum and the Palace of the Governors (good to get background on the history of the State), The New Mexico Museum of Art – a collection of Southwestern Arts with a beautifull courtyard (see pic) – and the Contemporary Native Arts Museum (highly creative! see pic).
Admired the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi before we strolled up Canyon Road - a street packed with galleries and therefore a major attraction for locals and visitors alike. Picked up our car and drove to Joe's Dining for dinner, a little apart from the city center, but sort of a hidden gem, which offers much more than just regular fries and burgers. Dishes feature mostly local and organic ingredients and the owner and chef, Roland (from Germany), joined us at the table and we talked about German food, TTIP and had a good time and an delicious meal.
This morning we packed first (wished we could have stayed longer!) and started the day with another walk through old town (including some shopping at O'Farrell's hat store...) before we drove up to Museum Hill, passing by the bronze monument "Journeys End", referring to the historic Santa Fe Trail. We spent quite a bit of time in the Indian Arts Museum (our absolute favorite - spectacular sculpture outside, superb location and excellent presentation inside), the Museum of Folk Arts (interesting as well) and the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art.
On to the Railyard District, one of the up&coming neighborhoods, where we checked out a couple of galleries and the railroad station (which offers frequent and cheap connection to Albuquerque by train!) and the Farmers Market Area. A pretty unique store we found, was "Kowboyz", a second-hand western wear and boots store. Later in the afternoon we departed for Albuquerque - and had fallen in love with Santa Fe!
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