Mission San Juan Bautista, CA

[monik7]

On Monday, I visited the mission at San Juan Bautista, CA located about 45 miles south of San Jose. The mission was dedicated on June 24, 1797 and was the 15th of 21 missions founded in California by Catholic Spanish padres to teach Christianity and agricultural techniques to Native Americans. Here's a map of the 21 missions.


Mission San Juan Bautista is the largest of all the missions and the only one with 3 aisles. The church has never been abandoned and is currently the parish church of San Juan Bautista.


The monastery wing was dedicated in 1815 and has 36 rooms.


Statue of Native American


Inside the church


Altar


The entire mission complex sits directly next to the San Andreas Fault. This pic was taken standing on the fault at the bottom of the stairs. Seems amazing the church has survived. The San Andreas Fault is the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. It's a horizontal strike-slip fault. The church on the left is moving north while the valley bordering on the right moves south.


Plaza Hotel established 1856 sits across from the mission.


This cottage was originally a Wells Fargo office.


I loved the shape of this old pepper tree trunk. There were a number of really old pepper trees in town.



The town is really cute, but unfortunately I was there on Monday and a lot of the stores are closed on Mondays.

Sandi

[Liz]

Great post, what an interesting place! Thanks for posting.

[VickieP]

It looks really neat there. I'm glad you enjoyed it & shared it with us!

[cnq50b]

Sandi, Thanks for posting the pics & narratives. They are beautiful!
This really struck a cord in me - after visitng a mission church in Atitlan, Guatemala in October. They are really fascinating - all the smooth wood on the pews makes me think about the generations of hands that have held onto them, rubbed them, leaned on them as they pray. The feet that have come in & knees that have knelt on those smooth floors...
I might have to set a goal to see how many of these mission churches are still around & try to visit some/all once I retire.
So thanks for giving me a little goal to work towards...
Catherine

[avalen]

oh my, that was very interesting. As a small child growing up in California I had visited a half dozen of the missions but I could see me
visiting all of them at some point in time after I retire.

[Bethers]

Oh, I went through there so quickly in 2005- and still was using a 35 mm camera - so hardly any pics ... so it is so wonderful to see it all now through your eyes. I do want to make it back one day. Thanks!

[monik7]

Sandi, Thanks for posting the pics & narratives. They are beautiful!
This really struck a cord in me - after visitng a mission church in Atitlan, Guatemala in October. They are really fascinating - all the smooth wood on the pews makes me think about the generations of hands that have held onto them, rubbed them, leaned on them as they pray. The feet that have come in & knees that have knelt on those smooth floors...
I might have to set a goal to see how many of these mission churches are still around & try to visit some/all once I retire.
So thanks for giving me a little goal to work towards...
Catherine

Hi Catherine, I also visited a mission church in Atitlan. Wonder if it was the same one. I had planned on visiting all the missions between San Jose and Santa Barbara over Thanksgiving, but ended up having to deal with a root canal instead. I still plan to visit all the mission sites hopefully after the New Year.
Sandi

[grammynmaggie]

Neat post...thanks

[bluepinecones]

I was fortunate enough to get to see a few missions on work trips out there. Enjoyed the visit thru your camera. Looking forward to your continued tour of the wonderful missions on west coast.

[mtngal]

Nice pics Sandi! It's my favorite mission!

[PeggyinCT]

Hi Sandi, I really enjoyed your post about the mission. I've been to the mission in Carmel, but it was many years ago. Seeing them in something I would enjoy doing too. Take care. Peggy

[Rufflesgurl]

Sandi - thanks for sharing your mission visit. Isn't San Juan Bautista Mission neat. Right after I retired and didn't know what to do with myself (lived in San Jose at the time), I drove down to this mission. That's when I realized that the priests that lived back in that time were so short - some of their gowns were on display.
Sandi, you need to come to this area - San Miguel is in the area and Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa in downtown SLO is just gorgeous. There's La Purisima in Lompoc too. And, of course, Old Mission Santa Barbara is beautiful too. Bill and I walked from Ventura RV Resort to San Buenaventura Mission in Ventura.

I think seeing all the missions in CA would make a neat RV trip. Isn't there one in San Jose?

Linda

[BarbaraRose]

The only one I have been to is the Santa Barbara mission and it is very beautiful. They each have their own unique character and style.

[snowball]

Sandi
really enjoyed your tour...CA has a lot to offer would like to tour through it sometime
thanks for the pictures they were great
sheila

[mitch5252]

I, too, enjoyed this post.
Thanks for sharing.