Mission San Diego de Alcala

Chapel: Mission San Diego de Alcala

During Christmas Break Andy and I went to Mission San Diego de Alcala. Mission San Diego was the first mission established in California. It was established in 1769 by Friar Junipero Serra. It is known as the Mother of the Missions it is also Basilica.

Friar Serra

At the site there is a chapel, gardens, a museum, and of course a gift shop. The local parish still uses this site as a chapel and  we were able to observe people arriving for mass. We have no pictures of the inside of the chapel because of this. The chapel was beautiful, ornate, and very old. Because it was Christmas time there were red poinsettias throughout the grounds as decorations.

Bell Tower

We were able to observe the beautiful gardens and  hummingbirds flitting about.

A garden resident

The museum told the history of the mission and again, I was surprised that the Mormon Battalion had stopped here as part of their march.
 The mission begins the El Camino Real (The Royal Road) now known as Hwy. 101 and is part of the La Playa Trail the oldest commercial trail in the Western US. The trail connects the missions to each other and stretches from San Diego to San Francisco, There are 21 missions in all, each about a days travel from each other. The nearest one to us is San Juan Capistrano, which I hope to be able to go see soon.