Day 7 - Merry Christmas from Santa Fe!

Santa Claus didn’t come and visit us at the hotel. I believe he may have left something for us under the tree when we get back to New York on New Year’s Eve!

After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we decided to walk around Santa Fe even though most of the shops were closed. The weather was quite nice once more and we were able to enjoy some sun for most of our walk. On the main Plaza, there were some Pueblo Indian merchants who were selling their crafts and I bought two other necklaces (Christmas presents from me to me).

Jim in front of Burro Alley in Santa Fe. In the 19th century, people would haul firewood to town on the backs of burros. The burros would park and unload in Burro Alley so people could sell the wood. Burro Alley was notorious for saloons and brothels back in the day. We then continued our walk to explore the historic district and stopped to see the oldest church in the USA and the oldest house in Santa Fe.

The Oldest Church in the USA is located in the historic district (called Barrio de Analco) of Santa Fe. Mexican Indians from Tlaxcala built the church under the direction of Franciscan friars to serve a congregation of soldiers, laborers, and Indians who lived in the Barrio de Analco. The church was partially destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The current structure dates from 1710.

The oldest house in Santa Fe is located next to the San Miguel Church. Although its origins seem to be lost, it was confirmed through tree-ring specimens taken from its ceilings that the house was built around 1740-67. The house also showed on a Urrutia 1766-68 map next to San Miguel Church.

We ended our walk in the government section of Santa Fe. There were some interesting sculptures in front of the State Capitol, one of them being a sculpture of three Native American Indian women on the Santa Fe Trail. The Capitol, called the Roundhouse (the only capitol in the US to be round), also hosts an art museum but of course it was closed today. For another time!

Finished with our walk, we headed back to the hotel we spent some quiet time with photos and travel blogs.

We were looking forward to our Christmas dinner (booked for the 5:15PM seating) at a restaurant, called Martin Restaurant, with very high ratings for fine dining. We had read that Chef Martin Rios was a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, who grew up in Santa Fe. He started in the restaurant business as a 17-year-old dishwasher, working his way up to Executive Chef at several restaurants and hotels. Chef Rios received his formal training at the Culinary Institute of America in New York City, the top culinary art school in the US.

The restaurant hostess took us through two small eating and bar areas toward an inner courtyard for outdoor meals (when the weather’s warm, of course) and then to the main dining area. The Christmas dinner was succulent in a very friendly, down-to-earth atmosphere. We took our time to eat the three-course Christmas dinner with a bottle of Saint Emilion, a very traditional Bordeaux blend.