Kelly and I left her house just before 9:00 this morning and headed to the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. We parked and she took me on a walking tour of Old Town, a very picturesque and quaint neighbourhood.
Chiles hanging from the rafters.
This reminded me of New Orleans architecture.
Lots of quaint courtyards in Old Town.
Very ’70s stained glass in the chapel
Quite a fancy church for this style.
We loved the pigeon on the cross.
The church is quite large.
Found a prehistoric-looking wheel.
I love the adobe, the blues, and the bricks altogether. I am rethinking the style for my cabin. 🙂
The sign above the door says, in French, “the door of heaven.”
Big cog wheel.
Coral rose.
Magenta rose.
Cream rose.
Red rose.
I love the Midwest-style adobe bungalows!
This one was grey, not a good colour for adobe.
Love the colours.
Stone wall outside the museum.
She has a membership to the museum, so if it hadn’t been the free admission day, I would have still gotten in at no charge. I made a donation to support the museum.
We didn’t see everything, but we did take in two galleries. The first was a really eclectic art gallery with an incredible range of different styles of painting, including surreal, modern, and impressionist. I saw a lot that I liked.
Then, we did the new gallery about the history of ABQ. We both felt it was a little scattered, but it was interesting. We were both impressed by the giant satellite image of ABQ on the floor of the gallery’s rotunda and I was able to quickly find her neighbourhood!
Sculptures outside the museum.
Next, we headed to the Ranch Market, a Mexican grocery store. It had all the products and services I was used to seeing in Mexico. What a feast for all the senses!
Beautiful tiles outside the Ranch Market.
American-standard Mexican grocery store, if that makes sense.
It was only about 10:00 by the time we came out of the market, but we were both famished, so we headed over to a restaurant Kelly loves that she thought might be open that early, and was, Sharky’s. They are a taco joint with a beach theme (yes, in the middle of the desert)!
Sharky’s.
Historic Route 66.
Lunch was on me and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the prices were in line with what I paid for tacos in San Carlos! More expensive than Maz, but still very reasonable! We each started with two fried fish tacos (hold the mayo for me) and layered on the salsas. They were so good! The batter was very light, the fish was flaky, and the salsas, while hot, had a lot of flavour. So yum!
Fish taco.
We were still hungry, so we each had another taco. Hey, tacos are small. 🙂 Kelly had another fish one and I ordered beef al pastor, but they were out, so I switched to carnitas (shredded pork).
Carnitas (shredded pork) taco.
Our six tacos came to about 14USD for the two of us. Cheap lunch! These tacos were the real thing. ABQ is lucky to have Sharky’s!
We drove around a bit more after and then Kelly had to get to work so we returned to her place. I had already packed and loaded up the truck, so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways around 11:30.
I saw more of ABQ this morning than I would have discovered on my own and didn’t get close at all to the sprawling brown suburbia that I always thought ABQ would be. It is a sprawling city hemmed in by mountains, Native reserves, and the Rio Grande River, and has some neighbourhoods that are real gems. Thank you so much for your warm hospitality, Kelly, Kevin, Lester, and Olive!
But what a wonderful nickel it was. You and many of us will be back. Sharkys is calling my name.
I couldn’t feel my lips when I left Sharky’s! 😀
El Mezquite Market on Central at the far west side of town is also a very authentic Mexican Market. They also serve meals inside the store. You would feel like you had never left Mexico if you went in to shop. Spanish is the language of choice and for some of the employees it is probably their only language.
This market we went to was just like being in MX. Spanish only being heard!
A stellar morning indeed. Good weather, good food and, best of all, fabulous company! So happy you came to visit. Kelly
Thank you again for having me!!!