The Tucson Museum of Art’s (140 N. Main Ave., 520/624-2333, www.tucsonmuseumof art.org, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Tues.–Sat., noon–4 p.m. Sun., $8 general admission, $6 seniors, $3 students) permanent collection is heavy with the mysterious artifacts of the Americas prior to Columbus’s arrival in the New World, the art of the American West, and contemporary art with a Latin flavor. This is a good place to introduce yourself to that tri-cultural mixing that makes Southern Arizona unique. Five historic homes built in the last half of the 19th century survive next to the museum.

Just beyond the museum’s wide Main Avenue entrance is the oldest of the Historic Block’s buildings (and probably the oldest building in Tucson), La Casa Cordova, its two west rooms built several years before the Gadsden Purchase made Tucson part of the United States in 1854. A representative example of the style of Mexican townhouse that once lined the city’s core, with its central courtyard and entrance right on the street, the Cordova house’s design is mirrored in the block of adobe row houses that make up Old Town Artisans (9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sun. Sept.–May; 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Sun. June–Aug.), a group of artisan shops, galleries, and a restaurant on the east side of Main Avenue.

A shady courtyard behind the museum’s main building, The Plaza of Pioneers, has a wall honoring Tucson pioneers from the Spanish, Mexican, and territorial eras. Café a la C’Art (150 N. Main Ave., 520/628-8533 or 520/318-4700, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Mon.–Fri.) offers sandwiches, soups, and salads in an alfresco atmosphere off the plaza, and there are murals and sculptures worth a look here as well.