3080 Rio Rd., Carmel

624-1271, www.carmelmission.org

The bell tower, the shrine to Junipero Serra, the courtyard and the church itself are as impressive today as they were when the 3-foot-thick adobe walls were first formed by padres and Native Americans back in the 1770s. Deservedly the most photographed and painted building in the county, the mission is in the midst of a capital campaign to complete a seismic retrofit so its attendant history and art will be a destination for the next few centuries.