After jogging four miles from Dana Point Harbor go up the San Juan Creek trail to San Juan Capistrano (SJC). I saw the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner stop at the station, and then I saw a note on the ticket machine that selected trains to start here instead of Irvine. Oh well, the fare is $16 each way, which is the same rate for round trip and bus connection on Metrolink, so I was not mad after thinking about it.
San Juan Capistrano is a Mission town that was founded in 1776 by Missionaries, Junipero Serra. It was part of the original 23 Alta California Missions to instate Christianity & Spanish rule in each settlement. However, The indigenous people, Kumeyaay in this area, were not happy with their presence, as well as most indigenous peoples at each settlement. For the peoples that were accepting that the Spanish brought over 18th-century ideas, technology, weapons, and inadvertently illness from Spain. Settlements from what is now San Diego to Sonoma, each spaced out within a day’s walk.
In 1821, Mexico gained independence along with Alta California, with the governor selling the mission in 1845 to a buyer as the mission was falling apart. California seceded from the United States in 1850 and the mission was returned to the Catholic Church in 1865. Since then, the mission has been restored and meticulous care was put back into the mission.
The SJC Mission is still an active Catholic Church and museum, with tours daily except Monday, which was when I went there. Thankfully, SJC was not the objective for this excursion. Built around the mission are many shops and restaurants, some close on Mondays as well, and some buildings were restored or rebuilt from the ground up due to seismic standards. Many of the historic buildings and sites have historical plaques to inform visitors about the history, even on Mondays when everything is closed.
When you walk around town, you might see images of swallows, as huge migratory flocks of the birds come from Argentina to San Juan Capistrano in March. Back in the early 1900s, one of the pastors let the swallow stay at the mission as one of the storekeepers wanted to get rid of them, but the pastor gave them a home. There is a celebration of the return of swallows on March 19th when they fly back from Argentina.
The San Juan Capistrano train station is a major transit hub for the city taking passengers for Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink for the Orange County and Inland Empire lines. It was originally opened in 1874 by Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway for freight and passenger service. The mission revival architecture is similar to the surrounding mission area. The station was closed in 1966 and then reopened in 1974 by Amtrak for the San Diegan line, now the Pacific Surfliner. Metrolink Orange Line started in 1994. The original depot from 1966 is now home to Trevor at the Tracks restaurant.
Since there weren’t any places to visit in San Juan Capistrano on a Monday, I decided to take the Orange County Bus back to Mission Viejo.
