We got up before the sun rose even though it was already light out. I had breakfast, got cleaned up, and took Auggie for his morning walk so Bob could clean up those love bugs from yesterday. Around 10:00, we were ready to head into San Antonio. It was a 10 minute drive downtown and we found public parking convenient to where we wanted to go. Our first stop was the Spanish Governor’s Palace built in 1722. Although it was never home to any governor, it is one of the last remnants of aristocratic life in 18th century Texas. When I heard “palace” I expected something totally different, but it was interesting.
From there, we walked to the San Fernando Cathedral, the oldest parish in Texas. It was breath-taking inside.
Sitting just inside the door is a marble coffin that holds the remains of William B.Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett.
We sat in a pew just to take it all in and after awhile walked around the altar to the sacristy to get a close-up view.
I said a prayer for my mom and all those people ravaged by the hurricanes and then we left. We walked a few blocks when we had to stop on the street corner and check our map. (A sure sign of a tourist) A gentleman in a bright orange t-shirt walked over to us and asked if we needed any help. His name tag told us he was a San Antonio “Ambassador”. We had experienced the Ambassador program once before in Jacksonville, FL and marveled at the idea of having volunteers roaming throughout the city helping tourists. Ed welcomed us to San Antonio, gave us directions to the Alamo and the quickest way to get down to the Riverwalk. He was helpful and happy! As we descended the stairs, we entered into another world below the noise of the city streets.
There was, of course, the river itself and lush vegetation lining the river.
There were eating establishments of every kind, shops, hotels, and people walking along the river.
It was lunch time, so the restaurants were starting to get busy. Rita’s On The River caught our eye and our taste buds were hungry for a plate of nachos.
I had a River Margarita and Bob had a Dos Eqis to quench our thirst along with a delicious plate of nachos. We sat at the river’s edge enjoying our lunch and watching people.
We almost hated to leave, but we had more to see. Tour boats filled with sightseers moved up and down the river and we marveled at how they could maneuver those boats in such a tight area.
It was cooler walking along the river and there was a lot to look at. Once we got to Crockett Street, we climbed the stairs up to the street level and walked a couple of blocks to Alamo Plaza. At the center of the plaza is the Alamo. The Alamo was the first of 5 Spanish missions established along the San Antonio River.
No pictures were allowed inside the mission as we read about the history of the Alamo and its current restoration project. Outside small tents were set up in the courtyard to depict aspects of life at that time.
Across from the courtyard area was the Alamo Museum and Gift Shop built in 1936. From the Alamo, we finished our walk along the river and back to the street where we parked our car. At the top of the bridge at street level, we could look down and see all the colorful umbrellas that are always depicted in books showing the Riverwalk in San Antonio.
It was getting warm, so we walked back to the car for some AC relief. Our last stop was to get a view of the Tower of the Americas.
It was built for the 1968 World’s Fair. This 750 ft. tall tower provides visitors with a restaurant and observation deck with a panoramic view of the city. We didn’t go up, as Bob didn’t think he could handle the height, but it was cool to see from the ground level as well. We got back to the campground at 1:30 to get some AC relief during the heat of the day. The temperature was 88 with a nice breeze, but it sure felt warmer than that. I sat outside in the shade with Auggie as he patrolled the area for squirrels and unwanted birds. We both came in for a light bite for dinner and waited for the sun to go down so we could take our evening walk. We walked along the Riverwalk path that has access very conveniently located near the campground. I couldn’t get a good view of the river with all the trees in the way.
When I got back to the camper, Bob called me over to his window to show me this sweet little dove who was taking a drink out of our “rain gutter” on the trailer. He didn’t know we were looking at him through the window.
Tomorrow we’ll get another early start to visit the other 4 missions in the Mission Historical Park.
