While it’s famous for its swallows (which sadly hardly return to the mission at all anymore, rather building their nests on newer buildings in the area), there’s a lot of things to see and enjoy at Mission San Juan Capistrano. Besides the ruins of the old Spanish mission, the grounds have interesting landscaping including several very attractive fountains. Thick with aquatic vegetation, goldfish and koi, they’re really very lovely!
Mission San Juan Capistrano is my favorite of the Southern California Missions. Back when it was built, it was a very isolated structure but now it’s been enveloped in the urban sprawl of greater Los Angeles/Orange Counties. When we last visited it, the water lilies were in full bloom — an absolute delight to look at and photograph. Here’s some of what we saw that day…
The lovely lilies make it a bit easier to swallow the disappearance of the birds…
Sorry for the bad pun, but this cartoon may explain why the swallows don’t “come back to Capistrano!”
More on the swallows, which now mostly nest a few miles away:
Staff at the Mission of San Juan Capistrano are trying to lure the swallows back by playing male swallow mating calls, hoping it will attract the females to the traditional nests, and that they will be followed by the males. Here’s a VIDEO from the Orange County Register, and more INFO from the Mother Nature Network.