After a short 50 mi-drive from Santa Fe, we stopped at Old Kuaua Pueblo at Coronado State Monument, north of Albuquerque. This good example of old adobe construction was built around 1300 and Coronado encountered this pueblo when he entered the SW in 1540 on his search for gold. When archaeologists from the Museum of New Mexico excavated the ruins during the 1930s, they discovered a square kiva (see pic) with many layers of mural paintings. A unique feature is that the murals could be preserved and are now to be seen in the museum.
Directly adjacent is the Santa Ana Pueblo – one of 19 Pueblos of NM –, its traditional name is "Tamaya" - same as the name of the resort we were staying at: Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort on the tribe's property, same as the Santa Ana Star Casino.
The Tamaya Resort (see pics) is "in the middle of nowhere", close to the Rio Grande (a trail from the resort goes there), with a view to the Sandia Mountains, which we enjoyed from our room's balcony. Beautiful location, beautiful artwork all over the hotel, impeccable service and all luxury imaginable, from pools, spa, workshops and other events to several restaurants, horse stables, golf courses and much more.
Saturday morning we drove into Albuquerque, the first larger city we've been to since our arrival to Denver. With about 555,000 people it's the most populous city in New Mexico. Albuquerque also is the hot air ballooning capital of the world: 1972 the Balloon Fiesta was founded with 13 ballons on a parking lot, today the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta hosts a couple of hundred balloons each October. The city is a famous filming location as well, with the Albuquerque Studios, the largest production facility in the country, and, it is famous for Route 66 and old neon signs.
We explored Old Town (see pic) first, with shops and small museums like the Rattlesnake or the Turquoise Museum, and then walked over to the the larger, attractive Albuquerque Museum (see pic), where, unfortunately, the historic exhibition was not open yet. The heart and soul of the main plaza is the San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church, built in 1793.
The very first Spanish explorers arrived in Albuquerque in approximately 1540 under General Francisco de Coronado. Old Town's official "birth" was in 1706, when a group of colonists were granted permission by King Philip of Spain to establish a new city on the banks of the Rio Grande. "Villa de Alburquerque" was born.
After a brief visit at the ABC BioPark's Aquarium and Botanic Garden – a unique environmental museum comprising four facilities – we drove to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center to see the exhibition and to watch Native Dancers perform - an event taking place every saturday. Learned a lot about specific dances, like the buffalo or butterfly dance. The youngest dancer was Gerome (see pic), a very serious 7-year-old boy, who performed with his father. He started dancing by watching the elders at age 2! We had lunch in the Pueblo Harvest Café after the presentation, which is not just another museum's restaurant, but has an excellent reputation for local produce. Our Indian Taco (see pic) and Blue Corn Burritos were just delicious!
Downtown Albuquerque: since Downtown Revitalization began in 2000 it's improved and pretty attractive. Especially the KiMo Theatre, built in 1927, is an architecture worth being seen. The National Hispanic Cultural Center, on Rte. 66 – our next stop – is a huge complex with an arts museum and several cultural institutions. Especially worth being seen is the tower with a huge fresco called "Mundos de mestizaje," which depicts more than 3,000 years of Hispanic heritage.
At 4 pm we had to be on the campus of the University of New Mexico, the state’s largest university, founded in 1889 to watch a college basketball game of the local Lobos versus the Las Vegas Rebels in "The Pit", that's how the stadium is called. Great atmosphere, sold-out with about 15.000 fans, good (defensive) game, and though the Lobos lost, we had a great time.
On sunday morning we had planned a trip with the Sandia Peak Tramway, which climbs up Sandia Crest, a mountain of almost 11,000 ft (3,250 m), in the center of a ski area. Would have loved to enjoy the view from high up, but instead had to content ourselves with the view from the basis station. Since it was clouded with high winds the tram was "on hold" this morning because of inclement weather. Instead, we drove to the Balloon Museum, which proved to be a good choice. Very informative and unique! Also, Petroglyphs National Monument's Visitors Center, our next stop, was well worth the visit though we didn't hike the trails to the petroglyphs. Wished we would have had enough time! That was our last stop in Albuquerque before we headed out to Las Cruces.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen