Today we visited San Juan Bautista, the landmark California town where the Mission San Juan Bautista is located. This historic site is located approximately fifteen miles away from the town of Hollister, California where my husband and I live. We spend several days each summer visiting this beautiful historic town.
We always get a kick out of the tame chickens and roosters that roam freely on both the sidewalks and often in the streets. Today we saw a rooster, who we named Roo hold up traffic as he crossed the street...in the cross walk! Glad I got a picture of this event because otherwise I don’t' think anyone would believe me that Roo walked across the street in the cross walk. Pictures of Roo and his companion lady, Henny Penny are at the end of this Blog.
We walked over to 'Jardines of San Juan' to check out the menu, and decided instead to have lunch at our other favorite eatery in San Juan, which is 'Dona Esters'. What made us make this decision was the chilly wind that was blowing through San Juan today. Jardines has both indoor and patio dining but when we eat at Jardines we prefer to dine at a table on the outside garden patio. On this particular day it was too chilly and too windy to dine on the patio, so off we went to Dona Esters.
Dona Esters is an award winning Mexican Restaurant and today we did enjoy ourselves. Our waitress today was a waiter named Don. Don works as a bartender at Dona Esters 2 days a week and as a waiter 2 days a week.
I ordered a single chicken enchilada with beans and rice, and Don got it to our table nice and hot! My husband ordered the ½ Tostada Fiesta, which is a salad with freshly cooked chicken and chunks of beef Chili Colorado in it. The Toatada Fiesta was topped off with sour cream, guacamole and shredded yellow cheddar cheese.
All was excellent!
I asked Don if I could take his picture for my web page, and he consented, he even posed for a picture!
During our lunch we listened to 3 strolling musicians, whom were auditioning for the owner of the restaurant at a table right in front of our table. I took a picture of these musicians, and I’m including it in this Blog as well as pictures of several stores and art galleries that we visited.
At the Mission San Juan Bautista we saw a large rose garden in the courtyard. A Mass was being celebrated in Latin in the chapel, and we could hear it from the outside of the building. I remembered back to when I was a child in Massachusettes, and all of the Catholic Masses were celebrated in Latin back then.
Today we learned that the chapel at Mission San Juan Bautista was the first chapel of a Catholic Church in the ‘New World’ to have 3 aisles. I noted that the outside chapel bells totaled three, and I think this is in reference to the inside of the chapel having three aisles.
Mission San Juan Bautista is NOT supported by the state; it relies solely on public donations in order to exist.
We enjoyed ourselves today, and from the pictures I am posting you will get a feeling for what the town of San Juan Bautista is like, and you will also get a feeling for what the old mission is like. Perhaps someday you will visit this historic town and mission yourself.
One thing the town of San Juan Bautista is well known for is selling antiques. There are many stores in this town that cater to the antique business. Another area that this town is known for is selling Tiffany style art glass.
The main store that sells Tiffany style art glass lamps and windows in located near the end of the main street, in the Pepper Tree Shopping Mall. You can't miss this store because of all the beautiful Tiffany style glass lamps and windows displayed in the front window.
I spoke with the woman who owns this shop, and I learned that she does all of the art glass work herself. She is a true artist!
If you love beautiful Tiffany style art glass, a trip to San Juan Bautista is worth it just to visit this shop!
Thank you for reading,
SCROLL DOWN THIS PAGE TO SEE MORE, LARGER PICTURES THAT I TOOK OF SAN JUAN BAUTISTA INCLUDING A PICTURE OF A ROOSTER, I NAMED ROO, WHO CROSSES THE STREET IN THE CROSSWALK...
Carol Garnier Dutra
Copyright © 2010 by Carol Garnier Dutra
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