Albuquerque, New Mexico: Old Town

We visited four good-sized cities in New Mexico in a week. Three of them had plazas.

Albuquerque is the biggest of the cities, and has the biggest of the plazas.

This used to be the center of commerce, but then the railroad came through town around 1880 in a different spot. Business followed the choo-choo. The area went downhill for a while, but eventually became a trendy spot for artists, etc.

Now there are about 150 stores in the area surrounding the center square shown here. The Church of San Felipe de Neri dominates one side of the plaza. It's been around since 1783 - the year the Revolutionary War ended. Elsewhere, you can get the usual tourist items - shirts, jewelry, art galleries, etc. Some days there are musicians playing background noise for your visit.

Let's take a longer look around:

 

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