Page 75 - 2018 Travel Guide to California

tion House (across from the stadium and
Great America), Il Fornaio, Opa, Puesto and
Fleming’s Steakhouse. Elsewhere in the
city, sports fans will find plenty to cheer
outside Levi’s Stadium. The city hosts major
swim meets at the George F. Haines Inter-
national Swim Center, and Santa Clara
University holds NCAA Division 1 athletic
competitions year-round.
A visit to Santa Clara wouldn’t be com-
plete without a look into the high tech
giants of Silicon Valley. At the Intel
Museum at corporate headquarters, visitors
see how computer chips are made in an
automated chip factory and how the valley’s
engineers dramatically changed society.
Fascinating interactive exhibits trace the
prophetic vision of Intel co-founder
Gordon Moore who said in 1965 that com-
puting power would grow substantially
while decreasing in cost, an insight now
known as Moore’s law.
Some of Silicon Valley’s best shopping is
found at Santa Clara’s Westfield Valley Fair
mall, which is across the street from the
high-end Santana Row shopping district.
Santa Clara also draws visitors to its Triton
Museum of Art with its focus on Bay Area
SANTACLARA.ORG
artists and a seven-acre sculpture garden.
Thousands attend the city’s most popular
events, including the annual Art and Wine
Festival in September, Pacific International
Quilt Festival and spine-tingling Halloween
Haunt in October, and WinterFest at Cali-
fornia’s Great America with its awesome
display of seven million lights late
November through December.
Mission Santa Clara de Asis
& Santa Clara University
Santa Clara has a long history that’s closely
tied with that of California. The fertile
valley that became known as Santa Clara
Valley and more recently, Silicon Valley,
was inhabited by the Ohlone when Spain
began colonizing California. Franciscan
missionaries chose a spot in the valley in
1777 for their eighth California mission.
They named it Mission Santa Clara de Asis
after Saint Clare.
Visitors are welcome to visit the Mis-
sion Church and adjacent Mission
Gardens on the beautiful campus of Santa
Clara University. Founded in 1851, the
university is the oldest college in Cali-
fornia. The current Mission Church was
built in 1925 after a fire destroyed the pre-
vious 19th-century building. Statues,
paintings, liturgical objects, one bell and
the flavor of the Spanish-style architec-
ture remain.
Also on the Santa Clara University
campus is the de Saisset Art Museum,
whose most significant feature is a Cali-
fornia history collection. Artifacts that trace
Santa Clara history include a cornerstone
uncovered in an archaeological excavation.
The museum also houses European art
from the Renaissance to the 19th century,
including prints by Durer and Piranesi;
modern works by Chagall, Matisse and
Picasso; and prints by San Francisco Bay
Area artists Arneson, Diebenkorn, Neri,
Thiebaud and others.
Several other historic sites in Santa Clara
have been transformed into museums,
including the South Bay Historical Society
in an 1863 train station, the Santa Clara His-
toric Museum in the Headen-Inman House
and the Harris-Lass House Museum, an
1860s home that was the city’s last farm.
For trip planning, see santaclara.org
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