Presidio Park shows the benefits of its 1920s planting with 10,000 trees and shrubs, and rises steeply above Old Town State Historic Park. In an elabo­rate structure raised in the Spanish Colonial style, the park’s Junípero Serra Museum (https://www.sandiego.gov) carries odds and ends from mission-era California but is bet­ter visited for the stupendous views from its tower. Spanning suburbia and ocean, the outlook can be contrasted with ageing photographs of the same areas – then farmland from 50 years ago. From the museum, a short path leads to a cross which marks the original site of San Diego’s mission.