Proceeding south, the next mission south of San José is Mission San Juan Capistrano, which is a much more humble and smaller site established in 1731. Interestingly, all churches at the missions are still the property of the Roman Catholic Church, and the National Park Service collaborates with everything outside the front door of all of the churches.

Recently restored to its original white washed appearance (many pictures on the Internet floating around still show its former, rapidly deteriorating state), the mission just received a complete makeover.

Removing most of the ahistorical buttresses on the front, engineers drove pilings, some as deep as forty feet, down into bedrock, stabilizing the church. San Juan most likely had planned a new, larger church, but it was never built. The current church is simple, austere. I guess I would describe it as Baroque, even if that seems inadequate.

I like this mission, along with its southern neighbor, Mission Espada; they’re further out from downtown, less visited, and sort of the “black sheep” compared to the more impressive and successful missions to the north.

This house is actually privately owned and inhabited, right on the grounds of the mission.

The original quadrangle is mostly gone, except for a couple of buildings.

Here are a bunch of cacti.