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TRAVEL DESERT SONG

Do you know the way to Santa Fe?
By Nannette Simpson |

THERE’S SOMETHING about Santa Fe that gets in your blood. Nestled at the foot of New Mexico’s Sang re de Cristo Mountains at an altitude of 7,000 feet, Santa Fe’s air is crystal-clear and crisp. Pinon-wood fires scent the air, and the atmosphere is laid-back. On the streets of Santa Fe you see everything from gringos in designer jeans to Indian women wrapped tightly in their rebozos. In short, Santa Fe is a year-round fiesta: Native arts, music, rodeo, horse racing, the Santa Fe Opera in the summer, skiing in the winter and always-wonderful New Mexican food with blue-corn tortillas and chili peppers.

Santa Fe is about an hour-and-15-minute drive north from Albuquerque on Interstate 25. For a spectacular sight of the town’s rose-colored adobes, take the Old Pecos Trail into the heart of town, the Plaza de Santa Fe. Once there, a walking tour is in order, led by Waite Thompson, author of the Santa Fe Guide. Tours leave daily from the La Fonda Hotel at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tours cost $10 per person; free for children under 16 when accompanied by a parent. Call (505) 988-3548.

The Palace of the Governors is one of the first stops on the tour. This ancient building, dating back to 1609, usually has a row of Indians displaying their wares (turquoise, coral, strings of chilis and some pottery) on the sidewalk in front. Inside the palace are exhibits that depict the colorful and often bloody history of New Mexico, including a mud wagon that carried passengers across Raton Pass. After that, you’ll want to take a look at the modern Museum of Fine Arts building, St. Francis Cathedral, the Chapel of Our Lady of Light (Loretto Chapel, a Gothic beauty designed to resemble Sainte Chapelle in Paris) and San Miguel Mission, a 17th-century structure that contains some fine examples of san-tos and other religious art. Nearby, across De Vargas Street, stands the oldest house in the United States, an adobe hut built by Indians 800 years ago.

Practically every other building in Santa Fe has some historical significance, but at this point you’ll probably be ready for the shops on Canyon Road, which was an Indian trail long before the coming of the conquistadors and is now the hub of Santa Fe’s art colony. Up this four-mile stretch just off Paseo de Peralta lies a host of craft shops and studios that offer everything from Navajo weavings to kachina dolls to Spanish colonial and Mexican primitive furniture. You can find good Navajo rugs for $300 to $3,000 at the Streets of Taos, 200 Canyon Road and at Desert Son Leather-smiths, 725-A Canyon Road. If you’re in the market for custom-made furniture, try Southwest Spanish Craftsmen Inc., 922 Canyon Road; or Voler De La Harpe, 707 Canyon Road. The shops are open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.

to 5 p.m. A few shops open at 9 a.m. and are open later than 5.

Much of Santa Fe’s art is pretty amateurish, but Elaine Horwitch Galleries, 129 W. Palace Avenue, has an interesting selection of contemporary paintings by such artists as Fritz Scholder. John Fincher, Paul Jenkins and Ida Kohlmeyer. For near-museum quality Navajo weavings, jewelry, paintings and pottery, try Dewey-Kofron Gallery, 74 E. San Francisco Street on the Plaza. Works by the Taos Founders are available at Gerald P. Peters Gallery, 439 Camino Del Monte Sol. Amid all the Indian art and Western clothes, two shops in La Fonda Hotel offer ritzy alternatives: Suzette’s, with its array of designer furs, Given-chy and Yves Saint Laurent dresses; and Things Finer, with exquisite estate jewelry and a gem-studded bowl by Fabergé

And if sightseeing and shopping get old, you can always find sports in Santa Fe. The New Wave Rafting Company offers day rafting trips traversing 17 miles of the Rio Grande’s Wilderness Gorge ($60) or a “scenic float” along the lower gorge ($50), which is less challenging and is especially suitable for families with young children. Reservations may be made at Jim Manning’s Santa Fe Detours Agency in La Fonda’s lobby, (505) 983-6565. Southwest Wilderness Center also offers rafting trips for $50 per person for a full day and $30 for a half day (Box 2840, Santa Fe, 87501, 505-982-3126).

Another Southwest wilderness tour includes the Bandelier National Monument with its mysterious ruins of prehistoric Pueblo Indians in Frijoles Canyon, plus San Ildefonso Pueblo, Ortega’s Weaving Shop and the Shidoni Outdoor Sculpture Garden.

From November through March, there’s skiing at the Santa Fe Ski Area, 18 miles northeast of Santa Fe off Hyde Park Road. Twenty-six of the 32 runs are classified for intermediate and advanced skiers. Lift passes range from $14 to $16 per day for adults; $7.50 for children and senior citizens. Equipment rents for about $10.

These days, visitors to Santa Fe can enjoy an even more sybaritic pleasure: Ten Thousand Waves, a Japanese bathhouse that’s three and a half miles from downtown on Hyde Park Road, has a public tub and seven private hot tubs open to the sun and mountains during the day and to the moonlight and stars at night. Kimonos, towels, sandals and shampoos, as

well as bathing suits (if desired) are provided. Juices, tea and tempting pastries are also available. Tubs range from $6.50 to $12 an hour each for a minimum of two people.

There’s plenty of good food in Santa Fe- mostly Mexican, but not Tex-Mex. New Mexican food is different from Tex-Mex and is delicious; prices are moderate. For lunch, The Shed, 113 1/2 E. Palace, is the “in” place. Be prepared for a 15- to 20-minute wait in the courtyard, but it’s worth it for these dishes prepared with the native blue-corn tortillas, accompanied by superb garlic bread.

Cafe Pasqual’s, 121 Don Gaspar, is another good place for lunch. Usually, there’s a wait for a table here, too, but the food is freshly prepared and prices are extremely reasonable. Specialties include cheese flautas, New Mexican-style chili and beans and a dish called chicken sesame/mustard noodle salad. Other lunch places include Josie’s, 95 W. Marcy (which has great desserts), and Tomasita’s Santa Fe Station, 500 Guadalupe. Both offer enchiladas and the like for unbelievably low prices.

There was a time when The Compound, 653 Canyon Road, was the place for dinner, but not anymore. Now the best restaurant in Santa Fe is Le Mirage, 669 Canyon Road. It’s unpretentious yet sophisticated, with continental cuisine and fresh seafood. For a beautiful view, dine outside when the weather permits. Reservations are necessary.

The Pink Adobe, 406 Old Santa Fe Trail, is another restaurant popular with natives as well as knowledgeable visitors. Actually, it’s two pink adobes, with before-dinner drinks in one and dinner in the other. You can dine on everything from chicken enchiladas to shrimp Creole. Reservations are recommended. If your taste runs to Italian specialties, try Ernie’s Restaurant, 731 Canyon Road, where a large, covered courtyard offers a warm atmosphere along with good food.

Santa Fe residents think nothing of driving some 30 miles north on the Taos Highway (U.S. 84/285), up Route 4 at Pojoaque and north on S 520 to visit Rancho de Chimayo to feast on spicy New Mexican dishes. This is an old adobe farmhouse in a little Indian village that sprang up because the nearby muddy waters were said to have special healing powers. The food here is the best in all of New Mexico. so reservations should be made a week in advance.

There’s noteworthy continental cuisine in the dining room of Rancho Encantado, a resort complex in a beautiful setting that can be reached by taking the Tesuque exit off U.S. 285, 10 minutes north of Santa Fe. If you want to stay here, you’re provided with your own little house (called a casita) complete with fireplace. Rancho Encantado caters to small business meetings and seminars but also offers recreational facilities for the whole family. Horseback rides, barbecues-even poker games-are among the activities available to guests. Accommodations range from $95 (double occupancy) in the main lodge to $145 for a casita. Casa Pino also houses two luxury suites; prices start at $155.

Downtown Santa Fe has plenty of hotels. The three best are La Fonda, located on the historic Plaza de Santa Fe at 100 E. San Francisco; La Posada de Santa Fe, 330 E. Palace; and the new Inn at Loretto, 211 Old Santa Fe Trail.

La Posada de Santa Fe lives up to its name as “the resting place.” It’s an old Victorian man-sion surrounded by newer adobe-style guest houses. Have a drink in the beautiful, dark green-walled bar with its magnificent chandeliers and visit the Rose Room with its original marble fireplace. The Staab House Restaurant (named for Abraham Staab, a Santa Fe pioneer who built the house) has great breakfasts and the best luncheon salad bar in Santa Fe. Rates are surprisingly modest, ranging from $35 to $69 for rooms with double occupancy; $52 to $78 for efficiencies; $55 to $83 for suites; and $55 to $195 for casitas.

The lavish new Inn at Loretto, located next door to historic Loretto Chapel, is a Best Western production that has nice shops: Mr. Bottle, offering an extensive selection of wines; a cheese shop and some good arts-and-crafts shops. Rooms are done in Southwestern decor, and many have fireplaces. Rates vary with the season. From January through March, doubles range from $87 to $97; June through October, doubles are $98 to $108.

Bed-and-breakfast places abound in Santa Fe. Among them are La Sala, an adobe guest house at 643 Galisteo Street for $45 to $75 a night (which includes a continental breakfast); and El Paradero, a family-owned inn near the Plaza at 220 West Manhattan, where breakfast includes seasonal fruit, home-baked breads, eggs, sausage and homemade jams, and accommodations range from $32 for a single during winter to $95 for a luxury double during summer.

Fetes and festivals dot every month of Santa Fe’s calendar, but whether you go to Santa Fe in July and August for opera or to ski the nearby slopes in winter, there’s always an excuse for “otra ve (another time)” in Santa Fe.

(If you decide to fly to Santa Fe, you can onlyget as far as Albuquerque. From there, youhave to rent a car or take Shuttle Jack ($15) toSanta Fe. Reservations are necessary a day inadvance; call (505) 982-4311.)

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