We had a lovely time at the mission even though it was terribly hot - what happened to the sea breeze? I made the mistake of parking in the lower level which meant that we had to walk up a very steep staircase to reach the entrance. Cor struth -me lungs were begging for mercy by the time I reached the top. The bell tower is one of the prettiest that we've seen in all of our mission ambles. The picture above is taken from inside the mission grounds looking out.
As always, there is bougainvillea growing everywhere. I love this beautiful pink one that has been shaped into a tree. The mission doesn't really have much in the way of gardens and we didn't see a cemetery but I did get a few pictures of flowers and a good one of a flutterby which I will post in the future.
The mission is a working parish and the church was open and I was happy to see that photos are allowed. The church itself is quite austere and not nearly as ornate as some of the the other mission churches. As the first of the California missions - dedicated in 1769 - it is a very important part of California history.
Among the interesting artifacts at the mission are the mosaic interpretations of the Stations of the Cross. I'm afraid that I didn't read up on them so I don't know who made them - or when - but they sure are interesting - and quite beautiful.
This very large fountain is in the middle of the mission compound and by the time we got through hiking around in 90+ degree heat, I was ready to rip off my clothes and dive in - but Mr. Indi thought that would be rather uncouth! So, we drove down the road and stopped at a really nice place called McGreggor's. It's a really cool sports bar located near the stadium. The beer was icy cold and I was glad to give me plates a rest! I then fought my way downtown in the rush hour traffic and found our "Historic" hotel. It's quite quaint in a way! More about that next time.
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