Ideas for Planning Affordable Car Tour Vacations
Educational Tour of Northern California’s Historic Spanish Missions
Jul 26, 2009
Athough Father Junipero Serra traveled a whole day between each of the Missions along the California coast, today’s traveler may plan this car road tour in one day to visit three historic Spanish Missions: Santa Clara de Asis, San Jose, and San Juan Bautista.
A convenient and low-cost place to stay to begin this educational tour road trip is the historic Mariani’s Inn & Restaurant, 2500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA, (408) 243-1431. Mariani’s Inn is located on the El Camino Real, also known as the Old King’s Highway, the road the priests walked between Missions in the 1700s.
Mariani’s Inn & Restaurant is quite a new establishment in comparison to these California Missions, as it was opened in 1953, when Jack Mariani cleared off five acres of prune trees and built a charismatic Inn for his guests to experience dining and lodging at the highest level of excellence in a relaxing, homelike atmosphere emphasizing service and flexibility in the Valley of Hearts Delight.
Guests still find this superior service and all other amenities available of restaurant and lounge, rooms, and pool making this Inn an ideal place to stay and retrace this road trip by following the historic El Camino Real Bell road markers.
An excellent resource to use for free regional maps and information is the California Tourism Industry website as planning tools for these road trips by cars.
Three Historic Spanish Missions in Northern California
Mission Santa Clara de Asis, rebuilt several times, finds a home on the grounds of the Santa Clara University campus located at 500 El Camino Real, in Santa Clara, with a beautiful Mission Church and grounds to see. This Mission is the eighth of twenty-one Missions, founded by Father Serra on Jan. 12, 1777, and first Mission named for a woman, Saint Claire of Assisi, founder of the Poor Clares Order on Nuns. It was the second Mission in the San Francisco Bay region.
Mission San Jose is the fourteenth Mission, founded on June 11, 1797 by Father Fermin de Lasuen and the only Mission located on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay region. The location is at 43300 Mission Blvd., Fremont, CA, (510) 657-1797, approximately fifteen miles northeast of the city of San Jose on State Highway 21, and is named for St. Joseph. The Mission is open daily for self-guided tours with a small admission fee of $3.00 per adult and has a gift shop available for shopping.
Mission San Juan Bautista is the fifteenth Mission, founded on June 24, 1797 by Father Germin de Lasuen. It is located at 406 Second Street, San Juan Bautista, CA, fifty-two miles south of Santa Clara/San Jose and seventeen miles north of Salinas, and is named for St. John the Baptist. It is the largest of all the California Missions. Besides the history, geologist enthusiasts will find that the San Andreas Fault runs along the base of the hill below the cemetery of this Mission. Movie enthusiasts will discover scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 movie classic Vertigo with Kim Novak and James Stewart.
Other Fun Tourist Attractions on this Northern California Car Tour
Walk into Old Town, San Juan Bautista, for antique shopping, galleries, and lunch or dinner. Their Living History Celebration takes place on the First Saturday of each month at the State Park and is sponsored by the Plaza History Association, (831) 623-4526. Other celebrations take place almost every weekend during the summer months from May to October. A fun restaurant is Jardines De San Juan Mexican Restaurant at 115 Third St. where people may eat indoors or outdoors on their patio.
A car road tour to visit the historic Spanish Missions of Northern California is a fun and an affordable vacation idea for visitors of all ages, individuals or families.
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