SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : When the Mission Is Accomplished, There’s Still Much to See and Do

First-time visitors to San Juan Capistrano almost always head for the mission, as well they should. But for veteran mission-goers who are merely shepherding friends or family, the following alternative yields big-time dividends.

9:30 to 10: The Capistrano Depot is composed of shops, restaurants and an Amtrak station. Think of it as a mini Grand Central Station.

Daylight Express Bakery, next to the station’s main entrance, is a small bakery counter specializing in espresso, cappuccino and homemade pastries--rich ones such as blueberry muffins, almond croissants and like yuppie fare. Cafe Beanery is a jolting combination of chocolate syrup, double espresso, steamed milk, hand-whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Doughy, delicious chocolate chip cookies are made up daily by a local home baker. Best of all, you can eat your breakfast (until 11:30, anyway, when the Rio Grande Bar & Grill opens) on a real dining car that is part of the depot, sitting in your plush, fin de siecle style purple booth, watching the morning fly by.

10 to 10:30: Ready for that morning constitutional? The Los Rios Historic District sits just behind the depot. Ninth-generation resident Steven Rios (and his 10th-generation children) is living proof of the claim that the street is the oldest continuously inhabited street in the state.

The district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 4, 1983. The quiet street is perfect for a short stroll; it’s wonderfully fragrant when the flowers are in bloom. The most common structures are board and batten houses, although the Rios Adobe is the first building you see.

At the end of the street you’ll find Montanez Adobe, constructed in 1794 and once the home of Dona Polonia Montanez, enshrined in the book “Capistrano Nights.” About 10 other homes dating from the late 18th Century still stand on this street.

10:30 to 11: If you really want to come away with a sense of history, visit the O’Neill Museum at the street’s southern end. The museum is housed in a restored Victorian, a.k.a. Pryor House, reputed to be one of the first wooden structures in Southern California. (The preferred medium was adobe.)

The yard is filled with orange trees, and the frilly blue and white house is stocked with period furniture, much of which resembles the furnishings from the original Pryor home.

Examples: There are a mid-19th Century settee with horsehair upholstery, a Sears polar icebox circa 1880 and a cherry-and-walnut piano dating to 1820. The bathroom has the family’s original claw foot tub.

11 to 11:30: If none of this appeals to the kid in you, we have a quick remedy.

The Jones Family Mini Farm is right next door, a place where a kid can get up close and personal with goats and chickens, go on a pony ride or hayride or even have a barbecue.

Millie Jones has converted the house, Olivares Home, into a small museum of sorts. It houses an extensive collection of hand-painted china and porcelain, as well as a corn seeder, old razors and other curiosities. She uses it as a classroom for china painting, eight classes a week.

Meanwhile, out back, husband Gil runs the farm along with a trusty wrangler. All the animals are friendly and domesticated, and they especially love to be fed.

11:30 to 12:30: People love to be fed, too, and the underrated Fiesta Mexicana is a well-kept local secret.

Partners Juan Francisco Alvarado and Roger Avila serve their authentic, home-style fare in a tile-roofed adobe, of course, complete with mandatory bullfight posters and wall-mounted sombreros.

Specialties from their extensive menu include shrimp in garlic sauce, fried perch and seafood enchiladas, but if you come Tuesdays, you get a mind-blowing deal. That’s the day they offer soft tacos for only 50 cents apiece (an unlimited number with the purchase of a soft drink).

Try tacos al pastor, hand-sliced, heavily spiced barbecued pork, or pollo, shredded, marinated chicken. And make sure and have some of Avila’s great black beans on the side.

How can one even think of visiting this town without finishing up at a Mexican lunch counter?