A bus and a boat

San Antonio, TX

Today was a great day touring San Antonio, the 7th largest city in the U.S. as well as one of the fastest growing, and the U.S. city that is second only to Vegas in the number of conventions hosted annually. Their convention facilities are currently booked up fully until 2032.

I started the day at the Alamo, while the crowds were smaller and I still had the patience to listen to the audio self-tour. It was particularly interesting for me to tour the Alamo, because I just found out that one of the key historical figures, William B. Travis, is the great, great, great uncle of my Vancouver friend, Dane.

Travis, at only 26, was a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army and he was the key commander of the defences at the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution. The other two leaders were Bowie (the knife is named after him) and Davy Crockett. The story of the 13 day siege and the bravery and commitment of the soldiers there against unbeatable odds is well known, as is the call to “Remember the Alamo” which helped rally the Texans win their independence.

Originally a Mission, you can tour the church at the Alamo, which is now called a Shrine, the gardens, a gift shop, and the Long Barrack, which now houses a museum as well as a small theatre where a 20 minute film by the History Channel does a great job of putting the whole Battle of the Alamo into context.

After touring the Alamo, I jumped on the Hop On, Hop off bus and took the whole route from start to finish before hopping off. It gave me a good orientation of the downtown core and a couple of areas in the outskirts for the rest of my time here. It went north of downtown to the Pearl Brewery area (condos, stores and restaurants), and south to the King William Historic District, both of which need further exploration, perhaps on a subsequent trip.

Then it was on to the famous Riverwalk, an unbelievably visionary design by Robert H. H. Hugman. When plans for flood protection were being drafted for the San Antonio River flowing through downtown San Antonio there was debate on what to do with the river portion going through the downtown. Some wanted to just pave over it, but Hugman has this creative plan to make it into a really special place, and he was hugely successful.

Most of the River Walk is the original San Antonio River’s natural pathway, but in more recent years there was an extension to the Walk built on to the east of the original where the convention centre, large hotels and shopping mall are located.

Ravenous after walking much of the downtown loop of the River Walk, I stopped at “Republic of Texas”, a Tex-Mex restaurant on the river level and had a great Taco Salad and iced tea to charge me up for an afternoon of touring.

I headed first to Market Square where the beautiful gothic San Fernando Cathedral and the Courthouse are on two sides of the huge square. I felt very much like I was in Europe. The inside of the church was as beautiful as it’s outside and they have done a great job of incorporating the church into the square.

Next it was back down to River Walk level and I grabbed the Rio Cruise Riverboat ride to get a tour of the River Walk from the water. The guide was very entertaining and he knew his stuff. It took about 30 minutes and he pointed out the buildings along the way as well as explained some of the design features of River Walk.

Along the way I spotted a nice little spot for an afternoon margarita, so after the cruise, I meandered over to Rita’s on the River to enjoy one and take a look through my photos. I wandered back to the Alamo Plaza to get some pics of the Commemorative Statue that I had seen this morning when the light wasn’t good.

And then, it was nap time! So off to home it was.