Seniors Visit Gateway To Northern California

 San José is the 10th largest city in the US. This senior didn’t know that, did you? Bigger than Dallas, San Francisco or Detroit, San José’s population runs right at one million.

Can you name the top three largest cities?  Yes, it is NYC, LA and Chicago.  Houston runs a close fourth. So grab your coffee and let’s visit San José this morning.

San José is the county seat of Santa Clara County and is the largest city within Silicon Valley, which is a major component of the greater Bay Area. As the hub of Silicon Valley, San José is a popular destination for tourists and business travelers.

Senior visitors soon discover and enjoy the revitalized downtown area including fine accommodations and world class restaurants and shops. You will find downtown San Jose to be a mix of offices, shopping, hotels and restaurants as well as a convention center and the SoFA (South First Area) nightclub district.

San José, called The Gateway to Northern California, is a clean, safe, family-friendly city with a host of world-class amenities. It has great golf courses, one-of-a-kind museums and is only a short drive to wineries, the beaches of Santa Cruz, the Monterey Peninsula, Napa Valley as well as San Francisco.

Seniors Find City Enveloped in History

Enveloped in history, San José was founded on November 29, 1777 as Pueblo de San José, California’s first civilian settlement, and the first civilian town in the Spanish colony of Nueva California. San José, the site of the first state capital, was incorporated March 27, 1850 as City of San José.

It has changed a lot over the past decades and today, industrial parks, high-tech computer firms and look-alike housing developments have come to dominate the city’s landscape, taking over where farms, ranches and open spaces once spread between the bay and the surrounding hills.

Seniors Find City Packed With Cultural Diversity

Senior visitors will find San José to be a culturally diverse city packed with historic buildings, excellent museums and fine dining establishments. The Alviso Historic District of nine acres and a number of historic structures is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The old Bank of America Building is one of the oldest buildings in San José. In addition, once a lavish private estate, the Hayes Mansion stands as one of the South Bay’s most impressive and distinctive historical structures.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph is highly popular and is located in downtown San José. Built in 1803, it was the first church in town. Wikitravel can fill you in with all the details including how to get there, how to get around and a good description of downtown San José.

Seniors, pack your bags and plan on spending a few days in San José.  You’ll be glad you did.  jeb