This article is an excerpt from an upcoming book by Paige and Michael G. Stevenson, tentatively titled  Finding Spanish Colonial North America: A Guide to Historic Sites.  The first travel guide written specifically for travelers interested in America’s original Spanish presence, it covers everything from almost unknown archaeological sites to famous Spanish colonial cities and, of course, the California Mission Trail, with lots of information on where to eat, drink, sleep and play in between.

In 1769, worried about other competition for its northernmost holdings in the New World, the Spanish Crown gave Franciscan Padre Junípero Serra and his eventual successor, Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén, a mission: To found a string of Catholic churches along the wild, windswept and often hostile California coastline.

These isolated, undermanned and unfortified adobe outposts were designed to meet many of the California government's decidedly secular goals, such as strengthening property claims against encroaching European powers and convincing Native Americans that the path to salvation and civilization lay in very hard (and unpaid) work. Mission President Serra and his followers would also, of course, celebrate the glory of God.

Padre Serra proved the right man for the job. Despite a chronic limp, the diminutive priest traveled 24,000 miles, founded nine mission villages and effectively secured the Camino Real ("Royal Road," today roughly traced by US Route 101) clearing the way for future Spanish, Mexican and finally US settlement. Tens of thousands of Native Californians converted to Christianity (most of them voluntarily, according to Spanish sources, anyway), and despite devastating epidemics of European diseases, rampant abuse, and occasional retaliatory Indian attacks, most of the missions thrived.

After Mexico won independence in 1821 the modest military and economic subsidies upon which the missions, now numbering twenty-one, had long relied, were withheld; the Franciscan churches were seen as hated (and expensive) remnants of Spain's former colonial power. When newly appointed California Governor José María Echeandia arrived from Mexico City in 1824, he even announced that neophytes, or Indians who had converted to Christianity, were no longer obliged to obey the Franciscans. Unsurprisingly, most of the mission workforce quit as soon as they heard, sending the system into decline.

Most missions, however, continued to operate, and with the help of a few loyal Christian converts survived until 1833. That's when the Mexican congress passed the Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California, requiring, among other things, that Spanish-born priests return home and all mission properties be redistributed to the Indians.

Though most priests eventually evacuated, rich agricultural properties almost never ended up in the hands of Native neophytes, or Christianized Indians. Instead they were snapped up by corrupt politicos, while less desirable lands were abandoned, leaving the remaining indigenous Christians no recourse but to return to tribes that often considered them traitors. A few priests continued to operate a handful of missions as parish churches, and prayed for some sort of reprieve.

In 1843, sympathetic California Governor Manuel Micheltorena tried to halt the secularization process, returning some of the stolen lands to surviving missions and inviting the Franciscans to return. But when notoriously corrupt Governor Pío Pico took office in 1845, he reversed that process; at Mission San Luis Rey alone, he and his brother appropriated 90,000 acres for personal use. After US troops rolled in, following their victory in the Mexican-American War of 1946, Pico was relieved of office (but not, incidentally, of his multiple ranches).

California became a US state in 1850, and newly appointed California Bishop Joseph Alemany petitioned the federal government to return some of the old mission grounds to the Catholic Church. In 1862, US President Abraham Lincoln did just that. Slowly but surely, different religious orders, including the Franciscans, began sending in teams to re-occupy and rebuild the old missions, most of which had been stripped of all valuables and left to melt away in the California sunshine.

Over the past century, various government agencies and private organizations have helped the Church renovate, rebuild and restore the twenty-one missions and a handful of asistencias, or annex properties, with widely varying degrees of success. Most have been faithfully restored to their early 19th-century glory; others would be unrecognizable to the early padres. Some remain active parish churches, while others are museums, state parks, or simply empty adobes awaiting a more fulfilling destiny. All are easily accessible in private vehicles from US Route 101 and California Highway 1. Here's a rundown of what each has to offer, listed north to south.


Mission San Francisco de Solano (tel 707 938 1519; 114 East Spain Street, Sonoma; open 10am-5pm daily; admission US$2, under 17 free) The only mission founded after Mexican independence - and well after enthusiasm for the Franciscans had waned - San Francisco de Solano's idealistic Padre José Altimira went above the heads of Church elders, taking his plans straight to California Governor Luis Arguello. He argued that a new mission would serve as a buffer against Russian traders at Fort Ross, already eyeing the fledgling nation's undefended northern border. In 1823, Arguello gave him the go-ahead. The Russians were actually quite friendly, donating bells and other supplies to the Franciscan Friars - a good thing, since neither the Mexican government nor the better-established missions were willing to help. Altimira quickly earned a reputation for his unusual cruelty to indigenous converts, who in 1826 attacked and ousted the overzealous padre. He headed home to Spain, as he was by then unwelcome at any California mission. Mission Solano continued functioning until 1834, and subsequently served as a parish church, blacksmith shop, saloon, and barn. In 1910, the modest adobe was designated a California State Landmark and faithfully restored, and is today a small California Historic Park at the heart of attractive Sonoma, a popular retreat famed for its fine wine, adorable B&Bs and other upscale attractions.

Mission San Rafael Arcángel (tel 415 454 8141; 1104 5th Ave, San Rafael; open daily; admission free) Father Vicente de Sarria originally founded this mission in 1817 as California's first European-style hospital, an annex to Mission Dolores across the bay. There, on the San Francisco Peninsula, the notoriously chill climate had exacerbated already horrific mortality rates among neophytes suffering from European diseases; more than 5000 were lost to measles alone. San Rafael, named for the archangel of healing, was built in the sunny and much warmer hills just north of the Golden Gate. After the various plagues ran their courses, leaving only those with immunity alive, San Rafael became more famous for its exceptional pears. After secularization, General Mariano Vallejo (commander of the San Francisco Presidio) hired the neophytes to destroy their own mission; when the Catholic Church returned to rebuild San Rafael, only a single pear tree remained. In 1949, a replica of the original church was built onsite, and today serves as a parish of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Mass is held in English daily, and in Spanish, Vietnamese, Portuguese and Haitian French on Sunday.

Mission San Francisco de Asís (tel 415 621 8203; 3321 16th St, San Francisco, close to the 16th St BART station; admission free) Better known as Mission Dolores (the mission originally overlooked Lake Dolores, now paved), Father Francisco Palóu first founded San Francisco in 1776, but began construction on the current building, the oldest still standing in San Francisco, in 1782. The priests were, unusually, accompanied by a small contingent of settlers and soldiers determined to consolidate Spanish claims on the Pacific's finest bay, already coveted by the French, British and Russians. But the famously foul weather undercut all agricultural ambitions, while the mission's indigenous inhabitants, unused to the chill (Native Americans had never settled the area) suffered miserably. After it was decommissioned in 1834, both priests and neophytes abandoned the site without a struggle. The buildings remained untouched, and when the 1848 Gold Rush brought Americans to the breezy peninsula in droves, they converted the attractive adobes into several saloons and two racetracks. God apparently remained with Mission Dolores, which was the only major building to survive the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Today the mission serves as a basilica of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, with Mass offered Monday through Saturday and a chapel that is one of only two remaining buildings where Father Serra once stood. The church now anchors ultra-liberal San Francisco's Mission District, today a white-hot nightspot and Chicano stronghold.

Mission San José (tel 510 657 1797; 43300 Mission Blvd, Fremont; open 10am-5pm daily; admission free) When Father Fermín Lasuén founded this mission in 1797, farther from the Pacific than most, and closer to the hostile Ohlone Nation than any secular Spanish settlement, it seemed unlikely that it would survive. But by the 1830s, San José had converted more Indians than any other Northern California mission and was an agricultural powerhouse and trade center. Its success may have been due to the music of Father Narciso Duran, who arrived at struggling San José in 1805 hauling scores of Mexican musical instruments. He trained the new converts to play, and their orchestra was welcome at military presidios and Ohlone strongholds alike. After secularization, the mission's rich farmlands were divided among the area's wealthiest Spanish families and continued to thrive into the Gold Rush, when a trading post operating in the old mission buildings served as an important stopover and supply center. Soon after it was returned to the Church, an 1868 earthquake all but destroyed venerable adobes. The original chapel was replaced with a wooden church, used as a parish of the Diocese of Oakland until 1985. That year, an ambitious and painstakingly authentic restoration, using only adobe bricks and tools available to the original neophyte laborers, was finally finished. The interior features some of the original santos and retablos, and is considered among the finest in the chain. Mass is offered daily, and there is a small museum inside.

Mission Santa Clara de Asís (tel 408 554 4023; 500 El Camino Real; museum open Tue-Sat 11am-4pm, later on Thur and Sat; admission free) Today surrounded with palm trees and flowers, California's first mission christened for a female saint has certainly survived a series of uncertainties. The first two chapels dedicated to Santa Clara, situated close to the Guadalupe River, flooded out, while an 1818 earthquake destroyed the mission's third incarnation, on a site chosen by Padre Serra himself. The fourth was designed to be temporary, thus it wasn't until 1825 that a graceful adobe chapel was built right here - less than a decade before the Mexican government would shut it down. After President Lincoln returned the grounds to the Church, members of the Jesuit order founded California's first institute of higher learning Santa Clara University, today highly regarded for its business, ethics and biotech programs, but best known for its women's soccer team, featured in the hit movie Bend it Like Beckham. This fifth mission building burned to the ground in 1925, but has been faithfully restored and is still operated by the Jesuit order, with Mass held Sunday through Friday. The excellent, adjacent (incidentally, also named for a woman, university patron Isabel de Saisset) is definitely worth a look.

Mission Santa Cruz (tel 831 426 5686; 126 High St, Mission Hill, Santa Cruz; open Tue-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 10am-2pm) It was founded by Father Lasuén in 1791, among sweeping redwoods that tower above a peacefully burbling brook, when there was just no guessing how this one was going to go down in the record books. In 1793 it earned distinction as the first mission to be attacked by its own neophytes, who burned it to the ground. They rebelled again in 1812, when Padre Andrés Quintana, known for his metal-tipped whip, had his testicles smashed before being executed; we know the gory details because his mangled remains were the subject of California's first official autopsy. In another first, fearing an 1818 attack by French pirate Hippolyte de Bouchard, padres begged Spanish citizens to help protect the mission. The pirates barely made landfall, but those aforementioned locals - most of them former Mexican convicts, who had built the nearby pueblo of Branceforte into a gambling and smuggling mecca - looted the church instead. The bad luck didn't stop with secularization, as earthquakes and tidal waves in 1840, 1851 and 1857 utterly destroyed all that was left. In 1889, the Church erected pretty, Gothic Holy Cross Church on the original mission site, while a half-size replica of the original adobe was added across the street in 1931. It now holds a tiny museum of religious art, where you can take a break from the roller coasters at much more entertaining Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, just down the hill.

Mission San Juan Bautista (tel 831 623 2127; 406 2nd St, San Juan Bautista; open daily; admission free): This stunning mission, which retains its original Spanish plaza (the only one left intact in US California), and several original structures, was founded by Father Lasuén in 1797. Although the mission sits almost directly on top of the San Andreas Fault - which had already destroyed earlier chapels that occupied the site - in 1812 the Spaniards set out to build the largest, widest, grandest, and arguably most structurally unstable mission in the chain. Which they did. And it's still there. In addition to the broad nave, the mission famous for its interior, decorated by California's first Anglo settler, Thomas Doak, who jumped ship in 1816 in Monterey. In exchange for room and board, he created the ornate retablos and reredos that have quite improbably made it through the countless quakes. The church did not cease to function after the Mexican government decommissioned it, or even after the 1906 earthquake destroyed the bell tower and the outer walls; priests continued to give Mass in the inner nave. The church restored in 1949, although the bell tower featured Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 classic, Vertigo, filmed here, was added using special effects. The tower you can visit today, tintinnabulating with two of the original bells, wasn't rebuilt until 2004. Today a parish of the Diocese of Monterey, Mission San Juan Bautista has Mass in English daily and Spanish on Sunday, as well as a small gift shop and museum, featuring (among other things) the Donner Family Bible.

Mission San Carlos Borroméo del Río Carmelo (tel 831 624 8050; 3080 Río Road, Carmel; museum open 9:30am-5:30pm Mon-Sat, 10:30am-5pm Sun; adult/senior/child (under 17) $5/4/1, guided tours $7) Father Junípero Serra's favorite mission, and the second founded in California, this exceptionally lovely basilica was the original mission president's headquarters and also his final resting place; Serra's remains lie beneath the altar of the Mora Chapel museum. Nearby Monterey Bay was considered by early Spanish explorers the finest on the Pacific (they'd sailed right past much more impressive, but always foggy, San Francisco Bay), and so in 1770, Father Serra and California Governor Gaspar de Portolá spared no expense setting up San Carlos as part of the Monterey Presidio. Disturbed by the secular temptations of presidio soldiers, Serra moved the mission the following year, re-founding it among the pine forests of present-day Carmel. Despite the best attempts of his successors to preserve the mission after it was secularized in 1936, the striking stone building's isolated location made it difficult to provision or protect, particularly without the goodwill of the Mexican government. The Catholic Church returned in 1884, and made its immaculate restoration the highest priority. Thanks in no small part to the charming town of Carmel, as well its own physical beauty and religious significance, the graceful basilica and attached museum have become a place of pilgrimage for travelers from all over the world - including Pope John Paul II, who dropped by in 1987 to pay his own respects.

Mission Nuestra Señora Dolorosísisma de la Soledad (tel 831 678 2586; 36641 Fort Romie Rd, three miles south of Soledad on US 101; admission free) Tucked into this lovely but lonely valley beside the Salinas River, modest Mission Soledad (Spanish for "solitude") was founded in 1791, but never really thrived. Extremes in temperature - bitterly cold, wet winters followed by impossibly hot and dry summers - took their toll not only on the padres and Indians, but also on the adobe buildings, which alternately cracked to dust or melted away with the seasons, punctuated by regular flooding. The isolated and uncomfortable location didn't attract many converts (which meant there was no one to do the hard work), and after an epidemic of what was probably smallpox in 1802, hopes just sort of faded away. After the last priest, Father Vicente Francisco de Sarria, was found collapsed at the altar in 1835 the mission was secularized with little fanfare. When Church officials returned in the 1860s, only the silt-covered floor, and a few gently dissolving spires of adobe remained. Restoration began in 1954; today you can visit the poignant little chapel, but call ahead if you'd like to see the lovely interior. A parish church of the Diocese of Monterey, Mass is held the first Sunday of each month.

Mission San Antonio de Padua (tel 831 386 2506; open 10am-4pm daily, 8:30am-6pm daily June-Sept; admission free) Founded in 1771 by Father Serra, San Antonio was California's third mission, and site of its first Christian wedding, in 1773. The isolated edifice is also among the most faithfully restored, rebuilt using only local building materials and era-appropriate tools, an appealing adobe nestled into a dry oak forested valley in the Santa Lucia Mountains. At its peak, the mission produced excellent wine with grapes watered by the state's first European-style irrigation system, which included a dam the nearby San Antonio River. Thus the mission thrived, despite angering area Indian tribes. The red-tile, or "tejas," roof - a style familiar to residents of Santa Barbara or anyone who frequents Taco Bell - was developed right here, after one too many flaming arrows hit the original thatched roofs. After secularization, a handful of priests and the most loyalNative followers remained until the 1880s, when the site was finally abandoned. In 1894, the historic roof was "appropriated" for use on the South Pacific Railway depot in nearby Burlingame, perhaps the oldest Mission Revival-style building in California. Franciscan friars finally returned in 1929, though the excellent restoration wasn't finished until the late 1940s. Still out-of-the-way, the mission is located close to the tiny town of Jolon, 19 miles south of CR G14 off US 101, on the grounds of US military installation Fort Hunter Liggett (be prepared to show ID and automobile registration). Mass is held Sunday at 10am.

Mission San Miguel Arcángel (tel 805 467 2131; 775 Mission St, San Miguel; gift shop open 9:30am-4:30pm daily) Founded by Father Lasuén in 1797, Mission San Miguel was considered the best-preserved mission in California - until December 2003. An earthquake severely damaged the structure, and as of this writing (October 2006), the building's interior remains closed to the public. This is a shame, for despite the region's extreme climate and poor soils, it was well-managed and evidently popular among indigenous neophytes, who appreciated nearby hot springs and the artistic opportunities afforded by fresco muralist Estevan Munras. The mission's founders were never supplied with real architects and had no construction experience themselves, and therefore built a rather basic adobe mission. When Munras arrived, however, he and his assistants added impressive tromp l'oeil paintings, including false balconies, pillars and marble accents. After the padres left the mission in 1840, the buildings went through several secular incarnations, including a popular Gold Rush-era saloon, but owners always cared for the exceptional artwork. Franciscans returned in 1928, renovating the building - though there was no need to retouch the famous paintings. Visitors can still see the outside of the mission and enjoy attractive grounds, including an elaborate cactus garden. And do drop by the gift shop, where you can make a donation toward the mission's $15 million renovation and retrofit.

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (tel 805 781 8220; 751 Palm St, San Luis Obispo; admission free) Father Junípero Serra and a small contingent of Spanish soldiers arrived in La Canada de los Osos (Valley of the Bears) in 1772, not realizing that they had a secret weapon for charming the starving Indian population - specifically, their guns, which could transform the aforementioned ferocious bears into high-protein snacks. Although the Chumash Nation would go on to occasionally attack the mission with flaming arrows, inspiring a switch from thatch to tile roofs, large numbers of converts helped hunt bear and raise sacramental wine grapes under popular Padre Luis Martinez. Bouts of disease and an inevitable dearth of bears left the mission understaffed and in dire need of repair even before it was secularized in 1834, after which the buildings became variously a courthouse, school and jail. When US Catholics arrived in 1872, they decided to "modernize" the old adobe with a wooden belfry and other New England-style accents, all thankfully removed in 1934. A more authentic restoration was undertaken that year, and today, the imposing whitewashed parish sits at the center of San Luis Obispo, "A City with a Mission." And, it should be noted, a fabulous bar scene, thanks to the rollicking crowds of students from Cal Poly. The mission still boasts its original bells and Stations of the Cross, both made in Peru. As part of the Diocese of Monterey, Mass is held daily, and there's also a small museum and gift shop.

Mission La Purísima Concepción (tel 805 733 3713; open 9am-5pm daily; $4 per car) Like many of the later missions, La Purísima, founded by Padre Lasuén in 1780, already suffered from the Spanish colonists' lousy (and largely deserved) reputation among the locals. Quechan Indians attacked twice in 1781, not retreating until a contingent of soldiers arrived. Even they couldn't stop a devastating 1812 earthquake, however, which all but destroyed the mission, followed by unusually heavy rains that washed even the rubble away. Priests and neophytes rebuilt, but when Mexican soldiers flogged two Indians at neighboring Mission Santa Inés in 1824, it touched of the Chumash Uprising, which rapidly spread north to unpopular La Purísima. Indians ousted the padres and neophyte converts, then held the adobe quadrangle for more than a month. The Mexican military retaliated with a bloody offensive that left some twenty people dead and the church in ruins. The remains were abandoned. The dry climate preserved the original floor plans and nine surviving buildings, however, and in 1934 the State of California began rebuilding the entire complex. Today it's considered the most complete Spanish mission in the United States, managed as a State Historic Park. In addition to the mission, te park includes a museum and several miles of hiking trails. "Living History Days" feature costumed docents grinding corn, forging metal and enjoying other colonial activities, though the bad behavior that inspired the Uprising's worst battle is not re-created. La Purísima is located on CA 246, two miles east of Lompoc and CA Highway 1, or 18 miles west of Buellton and US 101; make a right just past La Purísima Golf Course.

Mission Santa Inés (tel 805 688 4815; 1760 Mission Drive, Solvang; open daily 9am-5:30pm; admission $3) Adjacent to the tourist town of Solvang, more famous for its Danish than Spanish heritage, Santa Inés was founded in 1804 by Mission President Padre Estevan Tapis, who had succeeded Father Luasén. Things began well, with reportedly enthusiastic neophytes and excellent crops, even after the original buildings were destroyed in the earthquake of 1812. Then, in 1824, not long after the mission was rebuilt, Mexican soldiers - no longer getting paychecks or support from the floundering revolutionary government - arrived, demanding that the neophytes support them, too. Soldiers severely beat two indigenous converts, an act that touched off the Chumash Uprising, which quickly spread to the neighboring missions, presidios and secular towns. It is telling, however, that when Santa Inés' chapel caught fire, the neophytes threw down their weapons and put it out. They didn't linger long after, however. A handful of priests did stay behind, even after secularization, inspiring Governor Manuel Micheltoreña to return some 35,500 acres of illegally privatized property to the padres. They used it to open the state's first seminary, which sputtered along until 1882 when it, too, shut down. That year, however, the Donohue family arrived from Ireland to begin renovations on the old mission grounds, including a Celtic-cross shaped garden. A grant from the Hearst Foundation in the 1950s paid for a faithful restoration of the original adobe, now a parish of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Mass is held daily in Spanish and English, and there's an excellent museum onsite, with paintings, vestments and books used during the mission's heyday.

Mission Santa Barbara (tel 805 682 4713; 2201 Laguna St; open 9am-5pm daily; tours $4) The hilltop site of the "Queen of the Missions," with its incredible Channel Island views, was first dedicated by Padre Serra in 1782. Because of difficulties with California Governor Filipe de Neve (who viewed the Franciscans as political rivals), it wasn't until 1786 that his successor, Father Lasuén, was finally able to begin his mission above the Santa Barbara Presidio. The original adobe church was shattered in the earthquake of 1812, and construction began on a new stone structure in 1820. The current building, not completed until 1870, is considered the finest example of mission architecture in the chain, combining classical Mexican construction with elements borrowed from Roman architect Vitruvio Polion's pre-Christian goddess temples. The Chumash Uprising of 1824 certainly affected Santa Barbara, but was primarily directed at the presidio. The military retaliated so forcefully, however, that even mission Indians not involved fled into the hills for several months. In 1833, new Mission President Narciso Duran made Santa Barbara his headquarters, using his political pull to keep Franciscans in power even after secularization; it is the only mission that they've never relinquished. Although the church was damaged in a 1925 earthquake, it has been restored; its elaborate stone aqueduct system, built in the early 1800s, still provides the city's drinking water. Perhaps out of gratitude, sun drenched Santa Barbara remains the state's most enthusiastic monument to Mission Revival architecture, going so far as to legally require all structures within city limits to be topped with those now ubiquitous red-tile roofs. You'll enjoy a view of it all from this parish of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles at Mass on Sunday, or make an appointment to take a guided tour, offered daily.

Mission San Buenaventura (tel 805 643 4318; 211 East Main St; open 10am-5pm Mon-Sat, 10am-4pm Sun; suggested donation $1/0.50 adult/child) Today located right on the busy (and dodgy) main street of the sprawling, beachside city of Ventura, this mission was once an agricultural center, surrounded by seven miles of aqueducts that watered long-ago-paved orchards and fields that explorer George Vancouver called "the finest" he'd ever seen. Although Buenaventura had originally been planned as the third in the mission chain, at the center of a fertile, heavily populated region strategically located between San Diego and Monterey, conflicts with Governor de Neve forced Father Serra to wait until 1782. It would be his final mission. The original adobe chapel was heavily damaged in the earthquake and tidal waves of 1812, but was quickly rebuilt. After Buenaventura was secularized in 1836, private settlers eagerly bought up the fertile farmland from beneath the indigenous farm workers, only to turn around and sell it to the railroad, which plowed through in 1887. When the Church took over the dilapidated mission buildings in the 1890s, Father Cyprian Rubio decided to "modernize" the interior to go with the rapidly industrializing city, for instance, painting over the original Chumash artwork. His improvements were wiped away in 1957, when the mission was restored from original records. Today, Buenavenura is a parish of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, with Mass in English daily and Spanish on Sundays; there's a small but very interesting museum onsite.

Mission San Fernando Rey de España (tel 818 361 0186; 15151 San Fernando Rd, Mission Hills; open Mon, Thu & Fri 1pm-3pm, appointment recommended; admission free) Founded by Father Lasuén in 1797 as a strategic link in the mission chain, San Fernando was completed in only two months. The functional quadrangle of adobe buildings quickly grew wealthy, producing cattle, wine, tallow and other products for the growing city of Los Angeles. It also became such a popular stopover among travelers headed north that the padres built the "long building," or hospice, which added yet another source of income to the swollen mission coffers. After the earthquake of 1812 damaged the structure significantly, waves of European epidemics culled the indigenous population and the mission went into decline. After secularization, the land was redistributed to Mexican settlers with little resistance, its once bustling buildings reduced to stables, warehouses and even a pig farm. It was not until 1929 that the Church returned to renovate the mission, which is now a convent, museum and archival center for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. A splendid, gold leaf, 400-year-old altar on display, and the grounds have had bit parts in several Hollywood movies.

Mission San Gabriel Arcángel (tel 626 457 3035; 428 South Mission Dr, San Gabriel; open daily 9am-4:30pm; admission $5/4/3 adult/senior/child) This dramatic Moorish-style mission, founded by Padre Serra in 1771, is often called the "Godmother of Los Angeles," as this is where the neighboring metropolis's first settlers got their start. Originally situated on the Río de los Temblores ("Earthquake River"), the mission moved first to the banks of seemingly less threatening Río Hondo, which flooded them out in 1776, and finally here, to the abundantly fertile foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. More Indians were converted here - some 25,000 - than at any other mission, which provided plenty of cheap labor for its expansive holdings, which included California's largest (and perhaps first) vineyard, begun with cuttings brought from Spain by Father Serra himself. Within ten years of secularization, all mission holdings - orchards, fields, 16,000 head of cattle - had been either plundered or fallen into ruin, though a few priests held out until the late 1800s. Claretian missionaries returned in 1908 and began restoring the original adobes, including a remarkable Stations of the Cross painted by Shoshone artists who used crushed flowers mixed with olive oil. You can still see them at the excellent museum, which also sponsors "History Days," with mission trivia and more. Now a parish of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, San Gabriel offers Mass in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Mission San Juan Capistrano (tel 949 234 1360; cnr Ortega Hwy & Camino Capistrano, across from Amtrak; open 8:30am-5pm daily; admission $7/6/5 adult/senior/child) So pretty that the swallows still return every year, the "Jewel of the Missions" is one of Southern California's best beloved attractions. First founded in 1775 by Father Lasuén, he was forced to beat a quick retreat after an Indian uprising in San Diego threatened the unprotected padres. He and his mentor, Padre Serra, returned in 1776 to dig up the bells so hastily buried and begin building the most ornate mission in the chain. An adobe capilla constructed in 1778 was the only part of the enormous limestone church to survive the 1812 earthquake intact; today it's called the Serra Chapel, the only extant building where Father Serra is known to have given Mass. After the Secularization Act was passed, San Juan Capistrano was targeted by the Mexican government and used as an example. California Governor Figueroa designated mission property as a free Indian pueblo and sent in troops to make sure that the transition went as planned, which (unique among all the missions) it did. He died three years later, however, and the fertile fields were shamelessly reallocated to settlers of European stock. Although the Catholic Church made half-hearted attempts to get the place up and running again after 1865, it wasn't until Father John O'Sullivan arrived in 1922, and realized that a dusty storage room was once Father Serra's pulpit, that restoration really began. When the 1987 Whittier Earthquake damaged the parish further, funds were finally allocated to finish the job. Today part of the Diocese of Orange, San Juan Capistrano has Mass in English daily, Spanish on weekends. Call ahead to reserve a guided tour, and be sure to check the website to see if any special events (the swallows usually arrive around March 19) are on while you're in town.

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia (tel 760 757 3651; 4050 Mission Ave, Oceanside; museum open 10am-4pm daily; admission $5/3/20 adult/child/family) The "King of the Missions" and largest in the chain - indeed, the largest building in California until the 1850s - this was the last mission founded by Father Lasuén, in 1798. In a densely populated and strategically important stronghold linking San Diego, the gateway to already-colonized Baja California, and the established northern missions, San Luis Rey quickly became the wealthiest and most prosperous of the mission chain. When popular administrator Father Antonio Peyri, got wind in 1832 that the Mexican government planned to shut the entire operation down, he sailed back to Europe before the orders to evacuate even arrived. In an odd twist, Native neophytes tried to maintain both the mission and its asistencia (or annex), San Antonio de Pala, themselves; to this day San Antonio is the only California chapel serving a primarily indigenous population. But the newly freed Indians proved politically naïve, and within a decade mission lands were appropriated by Mexican settlers, who built a hard-drinking town (now called Oceanside) nearby. The mission itself lay empty until 1892, when Mexican-Irish Padre Joseph Jeremiah O'Keefe arrived and began repairs; the church was rededicated as a parish of the Diocese of San Diego in 1893. Today, San Luis Rey is being slowly restored with little help from the government or Catholic Church, and Mass is held here only irregularly. You can see how it's going at the huge church and small museum, and wander its 56 acres of hiking trails and gardens, home to the descendents of California's first pepper tree. Call ahead to arrange free guided tours.

Mission San Diego de Alcalá (tel 619 283 7319; 10818 San Diego Mission Rd, San Diego, served by the San Diego Trolley; visitors center open 9am-4:45pm daily; admission free) The "Mother of the Missions" was the first built in Alta California, founded by Father Junípero Serra in 1769. More than 100 sailors and soldiers perished on the ill-fated journey from Baja California, most of scurvy. Regardless, soon after Padre Serra raised his cross, California's first governor, Gaspar de Portolá, took the survivors north to secure the Monterey Bay. San Diego Natives had already heard two things about the Spaniards: That they gave gifts and took lives. After the small contingent of soldiers that Portolá had left behind open-fired on two Indians, apparently stealing the settlers' supplies, they decided that the latter was true, and refused to listen to any talk of God or conversion. Father Serra decided to move the mission five miles from the presidio and soldiers protection, closer to the potential converts who would then realize that the priests were different from the soldiers. Five years later, in response to strict rules imposed upon the few converts, some 800 Indians rioted and burned the mission to the ground, then proceeded to make Father Luis Jayme Alta California's first martyr. Serra moved the mission back to the presidio. Despite the rocky start, by the early 1800s San Diego was attracting neophytes and was self-sufficient, if not thriving. After secularization, the grounds were sold to Mexican settlers, then occupied from 1850 to 1862 by US soldiers. They added the second floor to the old adobe, and kept their horses on the first floor. In 1892, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondolet were the first Catholics to re-occupy the grounds, and founded a school for Native American children; in 1931, the Mission building was finally restored. Today an active parish of the Diocese of San Diego, Mass is held daily in English, Sunday in Spanish. To arrange guided tours of the chapel, small museum and grounds, call (858) 565-9077 between 12:30pm and 2:30pm Monday and Thursday only.