Friday, January 20 – We started our tour of El Paso by stopping at the Visitor's Center to pick up some brochures, a couple of maps and to ask the Center's guide all about visiting El Paso. We had planned several self-guided walking tours but it is cool outside and pretty windy. So walking was pretty nasty. We soon decided to do a driving tour instead.
We drove around most of the “old El Paso” downtown area enjoying the architecture and the tremendous Mexican influence on this area. There are several streets packed with Hispanic stores and hundreds of local residents and Mexicans crossing the near-by border to shop in these traditional shops. (Click on any photo to enlarge it.)
Beautiful Opera House.
Hotel Paso Del Norte (Camino Real Hotel.) has an 80-year old Tiffany glass dome, once part of the hotel's lobby, is now the showcase of the elegant Dome Bar. The hotel has hosted such guests as Pancho Villa, President Taft, and “blackjack Pershing.” 
Bar area. The photo doesn’t do it justice at all.
Monastery of Perpetual Adoration.
Shopping in old El Paso.
Immaculate Conception Church.
There is also a Segundo Barrio Murals tour we hoped to walk. But due to the weather, we managed to visit many of the paintings by driving around town. Not easy because there are many one-way streets causing some confusion. These murals are scattered throughout the city. There are so many of them. We did find some unofficial murals that we felt may have been gang related in a scary part of town. We didn't linger long for many photographs.
El Corrido Del Segundo Barrio.
La Virgen De Guadalupe.
Not sure if we should be driving around in this area.
We then drove over to the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) to visit. By now, the temperature had improved and the winds and died down, so we decided to walk around campus. This is a beautiful campus with an adobe/New Mexico style of architecture we find very attractive. It's a little hilly so we did a little huffing and puffing. We have to get in shape after spending too much time in Texas flatland.
UTEP Miners.
Geological Sciences.
Main Old Building.
The UTEP football stadium is unusually attractive. It is built into the mountains using the geography as a natural bowl for the stadium seating. It is also home to the Sun Bowl, one of the football bowl games played each year around New Year's.
Here is where we really huffed and puffed. Can you see Paul
way down there?
After our walking tour of UTEP, we decided to drive the Mount Franklin Scenic Mountain highway.
We had some difficulty finding the correct street. It was tucked back into a residential area. But after turning around and back-tracking several times we eventually found the correct street. It winds up the mountain and provides an amazing view of the city, near-by Mexico, and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, it was VERY windy on the mountain top, and we didn't want to spend too much time enjoying the scenery.
Think it is windy?
We then headed back to the Sunland Casino campground to relax for the rest of the day.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!
Nice tour. We will let you be our tour guide around the big cities. They make me to nervous. Thanks for the tour.
ReplyDeleteHa, Monastery of Perpetual Adoration! I have one of those!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to show this blog to our friends Terri and Paul as their next stop is El Paso.
Thanks for the city tour, one thing us country folks don't care to do ourselves. Great photos.
ReplyDeleteLove building murals! I don't think the artists get the credit they deserve. The stadium built into the hillside was interesting. For some unknown reason, I never really thought of El Paso as being hilly but I should have from remembering the houses on the U. S. hillside as you're driving along I-10. It was always so thought-provoking to look across the river to the overcrowded neighborhoods of Mexico.
ReplyDeleteAs many times as we pass through El Paso, we've never been inclined to stop and explore. Thanks for doing it for me LOL.
ReplyDeleteThat walking would have left me breathless in more than one way. Glad you take us along so we can enjoy without pain.
ReplyDeleteHad to be windy, Paul's hair was blowing.
ReplyDeleteWe've never visited El Paso but I would certainly like to. What beautiful architecture!! Love that Tiffany glass dome. I think Margery is right...not enough credit is given to the artist of street murals. You all enjoy!!
ReplyDeleteNice tour even if you did have to drive part of it:) I must say that I do enjoy the graffiti artwork. Some are so darn talented and their work is often so colorful. We aimed for the university one afternoon and missed the road by then it was too complicated to get back with all the construction and road closures. Sorry we missed it. We really enjoy visiting universities. Great views over the city!! Yes, it looks a "little" windy!
ReplyDeleteinteresting to see the tourist view of the city. We go there quite often because Paul's mom lives there, but its been quite a while since we played tourist. She and her husband both graduated from UTEP and are very proud of their city.
ReplyDeleteWe've been through El Paso many times but never stopped to tour. Years ago I crossed over to Juarez with my folks but that was years and years ago. It appears to be an interesting city for sure.
ReplyDeleteElPaso has always been a place to move through as quickly as possible. Thanks for showing us that there is much to see there!
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