Visiting San Antonio
San Antonio is one of the largest and nicest cities in America, and I’d say if you could visit only one city in Texas then to come here. The best way to get a birds eye view is to take a trip up to the top of the Tower of Americas where you can see the entire city. San Antonio is actually America’s seventh largest city with a population of a million and a half people. The city has one of the most beautiful downtown areas and some of America’s best history in the south.
Texas has several Spanish missions within its borders, but the most famous and important in the state is the Alamo. The Alamo was built by the Spanish Empire in 1744. Over the past few centuries, the Alamo belonged to Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and finally the United States. Without giving too much of a history lesson, roughly a hundred years later this part of the country belonged to Mexico. Locals saw the Mexican president becoming increasingly more powerful and dictator like. Eventually Texas began to rebel, and the president of Mexico, Santa Anna, reacted by sending an invading army to the region.
Rebel fighters had garrisoned the Alamo and changed it into a strategic fort for the first battle of the Texas Revolution. Though greatly outnumbered, the Mexican army was repelled twice. On the Mexican army’s third assault, they successfully took over the Alamo. Nearly all the Texans defending the Alamo fought to death, and the few survivors were immediately executed. The shot above shows the main entrance to the Alamo that the Mexican army would have had to charge through.
Instead of crushing the spirit of Texas, news of the defeat at the Alamo spread through the region and fueled support for the rebels. Eventually the Mexican army met their defeat in the battle of San Jacinto in eastern Texas. From 1836 to 1845 Texas was actually an independent country recognized by Mexico and USA. These last two photos above and below are from inside the Alamo compound. I’d imagine that back in the 18th and 19th century the Alamo was a bit of an oasis in the hot Texas desert.
If you’re interested in how Texas later became part of the United States, the Tower Of the Americas is a good place to visit. You obviously get great views of the city from 579 feet (176 meters), but in addition to the views the tower has a revolving restaurant and some historical information.
The Tower of the Americas history begins from the Spanish Empire to its independence and continues to the American civil war and modern times. The sign above tells the story about how Texas became annexed into the USA after only 9 years of independence. The only success Texas had that I know of was securing an embassy in the United Kingdom. The embassy building still exists, but is now a restaurant. Below is a flag of the Republic of Texas.
Next off to some touristy places, I went to Market Square in the heart of the city. I found it just to be another shopping area with nothing too spectacular. I was surprised to find out it’s one of the biggest attractions in the city. I’m not really one to go shopping and never buy souvenirs so I personally didn’t have too much interest here and only took two photos. Others seem to praise it for its size, history and occasional festivals that happen throughout the year.
A better touristy area of San Antonio is not too far away where you’ll find lots of small rides and major theaters, and the city aquarium. Above is a “tomb raider” ride located right along the main street. There were several other amusement park like attractions here as well.
The biggest attraction to San Antonio is the River Walk which is a level below the city. While walking around most of the city’s streets you might not even realize it exists unless you happen to cross over a bridge and get a view below. Above you can see one of many humble signs that you might easily overlook pointing to the River Walk.
The River Walk is a very long stretch of San Antonio lined with shops, restaurants and bars. Many people take boat tours as a way to explore the area and stop at various points. You’d think this would be a small area but it takes a long time to walk the entire length. After exploring for several hours I probably only saw half of it. Above you can see some people beginning a tour along a boat in the beginning parts of the River Walk. Below is a photo in one of the denser areas.
These two photos above and below some more areas of the River Walk. The top photo shows another entrance from the main street that descends to the river. There are countless stairs and bridges along the River Walk for easy access, most of them are beautifully designed. The photo below passes by some office buildings, and even those were impressive. Saldy I don’t think my photos do the River Walk any justice. It really is a unique place in the country and is even more beautiful at night. The river’s walkways, bridges, and restaurants are all lined with dramatic displays of lights.
There’s endless amounts of restaurants, bars and nightlife in San Antonio. It’s always difficult to bring your camera to those places so the rest of this page will go back to some of the Spanish history. I’ve always loved history so I found it interesting to visit places like the Governor’s Palace above.
Built in the 1720′, the Governor’s Palace is one of the best preserved Spanish buildings in the city. National Geographic goes as far as to say that this is the most beautiful building in San Antonio! The building still has the coat-of-arms of Spanish King Ferdinand VI, and was originally built so that the Spanish empire could protect the nearby Alamo and their growing colonies in the area. Above is one of the rooms within the palace.
Some of the rooms and furniture are so old they look haunted. The crooked bed above was probably the most eerie room in the small palace. But to make up for it, like almost all of the ruins left behind by the Spanish Empire, the Governors Palace had a nice garden built within the walls behind the main structure photographed below. Clearly its been modernized, but I’m sure it was an equally relaxing place back then as well.
Since I’ve always been intrigued by the Spanish Empire in the New World, I made it a point to visit some of the missions in the San Antonio area. There are about seven major ones in the area, and I thought this was the most impressive that I visited. Known as Mission Concepcion, the church was built in 1716. Building the missions hundreds of years ago was an impressive feat, especially considering the sweltering heat and difficulty of life.
Another mission outside of San Antonio is the Mission of San Jose. Like the other missions, these were built to help convert the local Indian population to Christianity.
The photo above shows the entrance to the San Jose Mission. Most of the rooms are now small museums that show artifacts and share the history of the Mission.
The San Jose Mission is one of the largest in Texas. Soon after it was created in 1720, it actually became overcrowded with refugees despite its massive size. It became a World Heritage Site in 2015. The rooms aren’t preserved as well as the Governor’s Palace, but the ruins are still impressive. Above and below are some photos of the remains of the Mission.
