Many cities in the Southwest have sections they call Old Town and Albuquerque is no exception. In San Diego, the Old Town has some historic buildings and structures with shops vending touristy crud but also has some old buildings that have genuine old stuff in them, like stables and hacienda residences. In Santa Fe, the Old Town has some historic buildings that you can find, if you look carefully, but most of the buildings have contemporary construction with brown plaster on them so they match the rest of the buildings in town. The Santa Fe Old Town has upscale boutiques and artsy-fartsy shops selling turquoise jewelry that is less than eagerly scooped up by undiscriminating visitors to this retail hell.
The Old Town here in Albuquerque is very similar to the Old Town in Santa Fe except the stuff is not so upscale, more candy shops are located here and maybe a few of the buildings might be old. Parking here in Albuquerque is much more abundant than in Santa Fe and we were able to get a nice spot at the curb right on the square without having to pay.
We bailed out of Charlotte and decided to take a stroll around the square. It was very square. It was also very shady because there is a grove of mature trees taking care of the air conditioning aspects of visiting here and there are also lots of benches where old geezers like me can relax while suffering through the horrible experience of shopping. There are shops more geared to cheapskates and the middle class here than we found in Santa Fe so I was fairly content to amble along beside my beloved spouse while she scoped out the possibilities for draining the wallet when I wasn’t loafing in the shade. We did find a visitor information center in a mini-mall with clever architecture designed to resemble old Albuquerque mission style buildings where we were able to get a full complement of published poop about the area. I love the visitor info centers because they cut down on our aimless wandering about in cities where activities we may be interested in can sometimes be difficult to find.
The Old Town here looks very oldish and we mutually decided to escape the area after Peggy bought me a very tasty mint truffle fudge chunk about the size of an address label that mysteriously disappeared once in my possession. We also ran into several dogs in this neighborhood and that made us happy since we got to pet them and hobnob with their owners. New Mexico Old Towns we have visited all have very reasonable dog policies and we have met many dogs here, much to our delight.