Mission San Xavier del Bac , Tucson, AZ

Saturday, December 21

The Mission San Xavier del Bac is our 3rd and final stop for today.  It has been a full fun-filled day.

Mission San Xavier (pronounced as "hauv-e-air") del Bac is a historic Spanish Catholic mission named in 1692 by Padre Eusebio Kino for a pioneering Christian missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order), Francis Xavier.  The San Xavier del Bac Mission was built between 1783 and 1797 by the Tohono O'odham tribe.  This majestic mission is also called "White Dove of the Desert".

This is what you see the moment you walk in.  The detail work was amazing!

This area is just off the front to the left side.

The candles got cut off in this picture, but this area is off the front to the right side. 

This is the back prayer area.  It was so peaceful!

This hillside was just a short walk east of the building.  As you can see, there is a monument of some sort at the top.  Lots of people climbed to the top.  We did not.

There were at least 8-10 vendors set up in the parking lot.  They were selling fry bread.  We passed on the fry bread also.

Tomorrow will be another big day.  The weather is supposed to be beautiful so we plan to go to the Arizona-Sonora  Desert Museum.