LA FONDA

This post should probably be categorized as documentary rather than aesthetic.  In any case, during our recent visit to Santa Fe, we stayed at La Fonda.  When we visited Santa Fe in 2004, we stayed at the same hotel, on the recommendation of a colleague.  It was a great choice for our prior visit and wee felt the same about this visit as well.

La Fonda is a 150-room hotel that has been ranked as the best historical inn of its size in the U.S.  I wouldn't know about that, but it was filled with charm and was in the best possible location in Santa Fe, being situated in the historical district right between the main plaza and the cathedral.  The hotel was built in 1922 as a replacement for an inn that had burned down a few years previously.  La Fonda is located on the Camino Real running north from Mexico City and is at the western terminus of the Old Santa Fe Trail.

I regret that I did not take any photos of the exterior of the hotel.  But I did take some interior shots that I am posting here.  Each morning we took breakfast in the hotel's main captive restaurant, which was filled with charm.

One note about the dining room: On our previous stay we also had a breakfast here and sat next to a party that included the actor Jack Palance.

The hotel features a significant amount of local art or at least decor.  Here are a few examples.

Of course, I couldn't resist taking an abstract shot of some railings, along with a whimsical directional sign.

Finally, is a shot I took from our hotel window that features Santa Fe's iconic adobe, as well as an approaching rainstorm, one of the meteorological challenges with which we dealt during our visit.

John