Page 90 - 2014 Travel Guide to California

HOOVER TOWER at Stanford
University, Palo Alto, right; a koi pond
in Hakone Gardens, Saratoga, below.
City and Town
San Jose, the county seat of Santa Clara
County, was founded in 1777 and today is
the largest city in Northern California and
10th largest in the nation. Downtown has
undergone significant revitalization over
the last decade, with historic buildings
such as the California Theatre on the same
block as more than 100 software compa-
nies that have relocated. The adjacent city
of Santa Clara features historic Mission
Santa Clara de Asis and its lovely grounds
on the campus of Santa Clara University
and, in the fall of 2014, the billion-dollar
Levi’s Stadium, the new home of the San
Francisco 49ers NFL team and the venue
for the Super Bowl in 2016.
INSIDER’S
»
TIP
A number of Silicon Valley
activities are free, including
visiting the INTEL MUSEUM,
MISSION SANTA CLARA DE ASIS
and its gardens, the TRITON
MUSEUM OF ART and the DE
SAISSET MUSEUM. STANFORD
UNIVERSITY offers free 70-minute
walking tours twice daily seven
days a week. Guides lead visitors
through the Main Quad and
Memorial Church, describing the
history and the founding of the
university in 1885.
santaclara.org
stanford.edu
Heritage and Culture
San Jose offers a big-city cultural scene
with first-rate ballet, opera and theater.
Museums include the Tech Museum,
where visitors discover what made Silicon
Valley successful, the Children’s Discovery
Museum, the San Jose Museum of Art and
the West Coast’s largest collection of
ancient Egyptian artifacts at the Rosicru-
cian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium.
About 10 percent of San Jose’s population
is Vietnamese, and this ethnic group has a
strong presence particularly in restaurants
along Story Road and at the Museum of the
Boat People in History Park. The city’s
Japanese community is revitalizing the his-
toric Japantown, which has a bustling
year-round farmers’ market. The valley’s
Mexican community is another large ethnic
block, evidenced by the huge crowds at the
festive annual Cinco de Mayo parade.
The Great Outdoors
Wherever you are in Silicon Valley, beau-
tiful open space is not far away.
In downtown San Jose, Guadalupe River
Park is a convenient greenbelt. Nearby
Alum Rock Park offers 720 acres filled with
tree-lined walking paths. Miles of roads in
the Santa Cruz Mountains lead to a diverse
collection of county and state parks and
open space preserves in redwood forests
ideal for camping, hiking, mountain
biking or a simple picnic.
KAVRAM/SHUTTERSTOCK. TOP: ALEXANDER DEMYANENKOR/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: MARIUSZ S. JURGIELEWICZ/SHUTTERSTOCK
88 2014 T R AV E L G U I D E T O C A L I F O R N I A