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Besides being the Capital of the State of New Mexico and the oldest capital city in the US, Santa Fe is not just one of the most beautiful American cities; it is also one of the most unique. It sits in the high dessert at 7,000 feet (2134 m) above sea level, making it the highest state capital in the United States, with warm summers and quite cold winters. It does take a while to get use to its high elevation, and I usually end up with a headache, but that should not stop anyone from enjoying it. |
Santa Fe is one of the few American cities with the unique American architecture. Most of the houses are built in the Spanish Pueblo Revival style, which elements came mostly from local adobe buildings, built by the Indians hundreds of years ago (even their McDonalds is built in this style). With its flat roofs, thick round walls and worm reddish-brown colors, they blend perfectly with the surrounding dessert. |
Santa Fe, with around 70,000 residents, has the second largest art market in the US, right behind New York. It is a haven for artists and many call it their home, one of the best known being the late Georgia O'Keeffe. As I was waking around I found a gallery with very familiar looking sculptures and it turned out that they were made by the artist Gib Singleton, a sculptor in bronze, who designed the famous cross for Pope John Paul II. You can find a lot of southwestern influenced art and Indian arty-crafts. The pottery is just incredible and many nationally known Indian pottery makers come from here. |
In one of those, a bit hidden, second floor stores, I have found beautiful, almost black pots made of Micaceous clay which is a naturally occurring, but hard to find, blend of mica and red clay. It comes from the same place in the mountains, above Rio Grande, as it was dug eight hundred years ago. The pots are not just beautiful to look at but able to withstand the high temperatures of modern appliances, quite sturdy and they give food a special flavor. I hope to own one one day. |
Down town Santa Fe is walkable, with hundreds of galleries, restaurants and a big Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. Sante Fe is also close to the city of Taos, NM, several ski resorts, a pilgrimage shrine called El Santuario de Chimayo (sometimes called the "Lourdes of the Southwest") with its sacred sand pit, the canyon of the river Rio Grande, a geological wonder Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, and Eight Northern Indian Pueblos. |
