Rio Grande gorge is an impressive gash in the landscape with the river tumbling along at the bottom.
Taos Pueblo is a beautiful Ancient Puebloan settlement, little changed in character for 800 years.
After leaving Chiney Rock we headed for Taos, stopping for lunch in Chama. We'd wanted to eat at Elk Horn Café but the owner had a medical issue and was closing for the day so we ate ate Tina's Diner instead and it wasn't bad.
I had beef enchilada with beans and salad, quite spicy. There were lots of freebies: tortilla chips with chilli dip - red here were not as spicy as the green but still quite hot, and sopapillas which are a fried pastry, usually eaten with honey but we had ours sprinkled with sugar, they were very good.
Just outside Taos we stopped at Rio Grande Gorge for impressive views 650 feet down to the the Rio Grande from the bridge.
We stayed at the Palacio de Marchesa in Taos, in the Matriarch suite which has its own "library". Not the greatest place we've stayed in! The rooms were very dark and though the "library" was nicely furnished the bedroom was cramped with an extremely high bed and the air con was a unit with a hose taped through the window! It was convenient for Taos though, and the breakfasts were excellent: fresh berries, natural yogurt, raspberry compote, and freshly cooked hot dishes such as spicy sausage, bacon and egg frittata, cheesy fried potato chunks, an O'Keefe frittata with mushrooms and, in place of potatoes, a bread pudding in a bourbon sauce which was superb.
Taos is a nice town and we spent some time exploring it. The traditional style buildings are very attractive.
The nicest part is Plaza de la Loma with traditional adobe houses and very peaceful in early morning. The town would once all have looked like this.
Taos Pueblo is the home of the Red Willow people.
The current mud brick buildings date from the 1200s, repaired and recoated with mud each year. The puebloans have kept the place looking very much as it did then apart from the use of adobe bricks which were brought by the Spanish, rather than stone and clay, as the main structural material.
We walked through the plaza, past the main North House, Hlaumma, which is upto five storeys high, across Willow Creek to the South House, Hlaukwima, and back via San Geronimo Church.
In the plaza there are wooden drying racks to dry corn, meats and berries and many outdoor beehive-shaped adobe ovens called hornos for baking bread. A cedar wood fire inside heats the oven until the wood has turned to ash when it is raked out and the bread placed inside to bake.
The Church of St Jerome was of particular interest as it was photographed by Ansel Adams. It has changed a bit since then but is still lovely.
As we were looking at it one of the inhabitants was driving past, stopped and said that up to a couple of days ago he was up on top of the church putting on a fresh clay coating.
