These old Santa Fe churches, like the Spanish-style San Francisco Church, were built around the year 1600, well before the English Pilgrims landed on the shores at Plymouth Rock. The oldest church in North America is in Santa Fe, as well as the oldest Catholic diocese in North America. You can google for more information if you like, as I am no expert on the history of Santa Fe.

Directly to the right of where I took this photograph is the historic and elegant La Fonda Hotel. I didn't take any photos of the hotel because on the outside it is not particularly outstanding or remarkable compared to the rest of the surrounding architecture.

The San Miguel Church in the above two photographs is the oldest church in North America. Note the blue windows on the building in the background. Blue or turquoise windows on brown adobe is one of the architectural traditions of Santa Fe.

Nextdoor to the Loreta Cathedral, as you can better see in the photograph on the main New Mexico opening page of this series, is a luxury resort hotel that was built in a traditional adobe cliff-dwelling style. On the inside it may be far from "plain", but the outside blends right in with the rest of Santa Fe.