The River Walk

Along the San Antonio River

The San Antonio River winds its way through much of the downtown area of San Antonio. Much of the time you can walk along at river level or above on the streets. A lot of businesses are only accessible from the river walk so each area is unique. Today Cheryl and I did a lot of walking. We chose to walk along the river as much as we could. This first picture is one of the many serene areas where lots of benches and quiet area are.

Here is a view of an area with a number of restaurants. We've eaten out doors whenever possible as the weather is still beautiful. It will be hard to come home to the cold and rain.

Today we saw the Alamo which you saw in yesterday's blog. No photos are allowed inside so the best picture I have is the one I already posted. San Antonio was first settled in 1740 so its history goes back a long way. The Alamo was originally a mission but by the late 1700's the city was large enough for the mission to close. Only later was it used for other things including a store and warehouse and finally as a military barracks in the early 1830's. We saw a number of other sites today including the oldest cathedral in the United States.

We toured the old Spanish Governor's Palace which is small and very dark. I have some photos that I need to work on as they don't allow flash photography. The courtyards are still used for weddings and receptions etc.

We had an extended visit to El Mercado (The Market) which is an area covering about 4 -6 square blocks of restaurants and tourists shops filled with everything I've ever seen or imagined from Mexico. It was a visual feast but we managed not to actually buy anything.

We also saw O. Henry's house which was about 12 X 12 feet square and in the corner of a parking lot. This was where he lived and started his first newspaper called "The Rolling Stone" in 1895.

Well .... more tomorrow.