San Antonio Texas

January 29-31

We  had a "city fix" in San Antonio, where we paid the obligatory visit to The Alamo (formerly the San Antonio de Valero mission). See previous blog entitled Goliad State Park for period historical details and below.

We were fortunate in our timing in that there was a small crew of reenactors in training, which made for a humorous moment or two!
 

We enjoyed the famous River Walk, which is the legacy of Robert Hugman, a clever architect and city planner.  The San Antonio river was prone to flooding, and, after a particularly devastating flood in 1921, he came up with a plan to create flood gates and other devices to prevent wide-scale flooding.  This then resulted in the Venice of Texas.  About 20' below street level, one finds scores of waterfront shops, restaurants and hotels.  Water-taxis and tour boats navigate the river and  add to the unique character of the city.  Dave and I took a 40 minute tour for only $6.00/person!  We enjoyed a delicious Mexican dinner at the waterfront Iron Cactus and returned to the river for a burger the next day!

And, on a Saturday, who could resist the Historic market and the adjoining Mexican market?

While visiting a city, we try not to have to drive the RV anywhere near the city centre.  In San Antonio, we found an "RV park" right on the public bus line, allowing us to travel to the city for $1.30 in about 20 minutes without worry.  The downside of such places is that they are usually parking lots with a certain demographic in mind...wait a minute...we are that demographic...sigh!