By Thursday Jan 17th, following 3-4 days of sickness, we were feeling better and ready to get out and about. So we headed to San Antonio to stroll around the Riverwalk area.
Our first stop was the Alamo (Spanish word for “cottonwood”). You aren’t allowed to take photographs so we don’t have a lot of pictures of the historical landmark (considered hallowd ground). The Alamo is an entire complex not just one building.
We walked through the Alamo Shrine, saw the room where the surviving women and children stayed during the attacks. We learned that the Alamo was built by Native American converts under the supervision of the Franciscan missionaries.
Part of the Alamo complex is an extensive garden area that still contains part of the original aqueduct used to bring water to the Alamo’s inhabitants. In the Cavalry Courtyard several of the guns on display were actually used in defense of the Alamo in 1836.
All in all, a nice walk through history.
Next we headed for the Riverwalk area. In 1929 Robert Hugman put forth a proposal that businesses, restaurants and store fronts along the river would flourish and presented his architectural designs and plans to the City Council. Today the Riverwalk area is 8 miles long. Though mostly restaurants and hotels at water level there are tons of unique shops street side.
We ate at an Irish pub call Waxy O’Conners and then we took a Riverboat cruise. Here we are on the boat waiting to cruise. Our tour guide Bob, in the back with the hat on, was very entertaining and gave us a lot of history of the buildings as we toured the Riverwalk.
All along the water were “Bald Cypress” trees and help significantly with water management. They have evergreen type leaves but they lose them in the winter. The things that look like rocks below the tree are actually its roots. Texans call them “knees”. In places the pedestrian sidewalks of the Riverwalk have been pushed up so they are trying to build the sidewalks over them (like foot bridges). They aren’t sure it is going to work, but they are trying.
An interesting mural on the side of the Lila Cockrell Theatre caught my eye. Named Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas, created by Juan O’Gorman as part of the 1968 HemisFair (the World’s Fair), symbolizes the progress made by the intermingling of different cultures in the Western Hemisphere. Adam and Eve are in the middle; European society is shown on the right, and indigenous meso-American life on the left. Most of it was covered by trees so I couldn’t get a good picture of it.
There was plenty of birds taking advantage of the river and the fact that people constantly threw them food. There were several species of ducks, and this interesting guy. Yes it has two legs but apparently prefers to stand on one. My yoga instructor would be jealous of his balancing ability.
After all that walking, eating and boat riding we were done sightseeing for the day.
