The rest of SA

Currently in: Austin, Texas
Next up:  Big Bend National Park on our way to Arizona


The weather in San Antonio provided a real challenge in terms of planning to see the sights.  It was very unpredictable!  So days I thought were going to be rainy and cold turned out to be beautiful and vice versa.  But this is the life of a vagabond (as we were called last night in Austin).  And we make the best of it!

We took advantage of a sunny, but cold day, to explore downtown San Antonio some more.  Our first stop was the historic Market Square.  It was rather subdued the day we visited, but we did get to see some crafts and artwork from Mexico.

Our Texan RV friends insisted that we visit Lulu's Bakery near the Market Square!

Finally, we took a boat ride along the River Walk.  

River Walk barge

In addition to enjoying the view of all the bars and restaurants, we learned more about the history of the San Antonio River including additional canals put in place to avoid flooding.

There are many beautiful mosaics along the River Walk.  This one symbolizes the coming together of the many cultures in San Antonio. Notice the 5 flags that flew over the city at some point in time.

This one is above the Convention Center and represents the history of civilizations in the Americas.

Here are a few of my other favorite historical markers along the River Walk.  

Bells represent the 5 Missions in San Antonio

Presa Street (iron) Bridge - commissioned in 1890

Statue of San Antonio

Although I didn't get a picture of the historic La Villita area, we saw the oldest German house in San Antonio and learned that there was an influx of Germans into San Antonio in the mid 1800s when the city was under the Texas flag.  The area was attractive due to the ability to farm in the area.

On a separate day, we explored a couple of the Missions.  They are now run by the National Park Service.  First, Mission San Juan.  

It is an active Catholic Parish, so the clergy live here!

Since it was supposed to rain that day, our plan was to take a quick walk on the trail behind the church. Here is the San Antonio River running along the back of the Mission.

We knew that there was a great bike path that connected all 5 Missions (including the Alamo).  We didn't bring our bikes because there was supposed to be rain.  It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and we were sorry we didn't have them.  We took a walk along the path instead.

There was also an aqueduct system put in place when the Mission were being built to provide irrigation for crops that were grown.  Part of the aqueducts are still there and along the walk/bike trail.

We also found the ruins of a small community called Berg's Mill.  The river provided the power for the wool and cotton mills in the mid 1800s.  Drought, floods and economic competition caused the population to severely decrease by 1940. This is right along the bike path too!

Since the weather held out we decided to go to the Mission Espada.  The church was open so we went inside and it was a lovely, solemn place.  We walked around the grounds at this Mission too so we could further learn about life here hundreds of years ago.

There is so much to see in San Antonio, we could have stayed for a month and not seen everything.  But we got a good feel for the city and its wonderful people.