A Day in San Antonio

What we learned and saw walking around San Antonio

What is there to do in San Antonio?

When looking up things to do in San Antonio, you’ll find that at the top of every list is visiting the Alamo and strolling along the Riverwalk. So that is exactly what we set out to do during our day there. 

Before this, I had heard of the Alamo - I knew it was a thing that existed that people spoke about…but sadly I could not recall much else. Nate knew much more than that - but we decided to give us some more perspective on what we would see, we should watch a movie to learn more about the people and events that took place. I had called my Papa that day and he spoke so highly of the 1960 film starring John Wayne. We learned that was the only version that we could watch for free with the streaming services we had - so that’s what we went with. 

John Wayne as Davy Crockett aka the man himself

Also we watched this film in color.

Movie Review Time

Well we really enjoyed that movie. It was a great way to learn the names of the generals - Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Travis, as well as the opposing force - Santa Anna leading an army from Mexico. I learned about Sam Houston, leader of the Texan troops, who was gathering a force North of the Alamo. Why were they gathering troops? For the independence of Texas! Santa Anna was trying to expand Mexico’s land claim, while Americans and Texans alike were fighting to prevent this and become the Republic of Texas. 

When the men at the Alamo (which I’ve heard there were 175, 180, or 200 gathered there) learned no support was going to reach them before the arrival of Santa Anna’s army of well over 1,000 - or some say up to 5,000 - they decided they would not retreat and they would not surrender.

From the letters ridden out of the Alamo, written accounts from the generals state the men who remained at the fort were doing so to hold off Santa Anna. They wanted to give Sam Houston all the extra time they possibly could to gather and train his troops for when he would meet Santa Anna in battle. When Santa Anna and his army arrived at the fort, which undoubtedly outmatched the troops at the Alamo, they were held off in that position for 13 days. At the end of the siege/battle, every single troop had fought to their last breath, refusing to surrender and stopping as much of the enemy army as they could. Santa Anna had spared any women and children who had stayed behind and sent them on their way north when the battle was done. The accounts from those survivors are also on display at the Alamo. When Sam Houston and the remaining forces learned what the men at the Alamo had done for them, the phrase “Remember the Alamo” was born.

Getting There

While we drove the 45 minutes south from where we were staying to San Antonio, we enjoyed listening to songs like “The Ballad of Davy Crockett,” or the “Ballad of The Alamo.” 

Of course we were only interested in free parking - although we saw many pay to park lots and garages. The lack of street parking in San Antonio surprised us but we were determined to save our money, so after around ten minutes we finally found a spot by Jackson Park, a really small square park about a ten minute walk from the Alamo. 

The Alamo

The Alamo is free to visit. The church where the last of the battle was fought, just sits in the city and is free to go inside of, but you do need to reserve a time to go. We made our time for 11am and showed our reservation to a lady waiting by the entrance and then we just walked right in (as we left the Alamo around 11:20, the line was much longer to go in).

It is already cool to see a church built in the 1700s, but seeing a church where such a historic battle took place made the experience that much more surreal. Signs, images, and flags with explanations of the significance are spread throughout the inside. The flags were from the different states and countries of the men who died defending the Alamo. Each flag had a number on it representing how many were from that land.

Seeing all this was free, so we spent $9 to take along one self guided audio tour which we shared as we walked around. We saw a statue of Davy Crockett (who I thought did really look like John Wayne), excavation sites undergoing current archeological research, cannons, a live firing of a muzzleloader, artifacts on display, and more. 

Davy Crockett statue and a fortress replica with a cannon

Some reading in front of the Alamo

Inside of the church at the Alamo, where the last of the fighting is reported to have happened.

Museum

The museum was free with the purchase of an audio tour and $5 without one, so since we had the one audio tour, we paid $5 so we could both enter the museum. The museum was like one large room and jam packed with information, like accounts from letters and survivors, belongings of some of the soldiers/generals, weapons, and uniforms. On display was Davy Crockett’s rifle and a lock of his hair, although the audio guide raised some skepticism about the validity of these items.

Inside we learned more of the soldiers and their families. We learned that after the Siege and Battle of the Alamo ending March 6, 1836, Santa Anna and his army went on to meet Fannin and his troops on March 19th. Fannin surrendered expecting to be treated as prisoners of war but Santa Anna gave orders to slaughter them all. This outraged the remaining Texan troops and it all was over when Sam Houston led his forces to ambush Santa Anna. Caught completely by surprise, Santa Anna surrendered almost immediately and just like that the war was over, and the Republic of Texas was officially recognized.

On the left is an artists depiction of the battle as it took place in this section of the church. During the battle, the roof was off, you can see where the stone wall ends and the arch wall meets it.

Live Muzzleloader Shooting

Twice a day, at 11:30am and 2pm, a few men dressed in uniforms from the time period of the Alamo step into the square with muzzleloaders. A man (also dressed up) explains the mechanics of loading and firing the gun to the gathered crowd. Once we are able to understand how these weapons were used, we can begin to understand how war was conducted with weapons such as these. The demonstration is accompanied by a drummer, since among the sounds of battle, soldiers cannot hear shouts from their leaders, so it is the job of the drummer to relay these orders through the way the drum is beat. The guns being fired are very loud so we made sure to cover our ears. 

Video I took of the live muzzleloader shooting. Hear how the drum relays the orders?

Riverwalk

After learning about the Alamo for a few hours, we started walking away towards where we thought the Riverwalk to be. Turns out it was very easy to find, as the Riverwalk is about 15 miles in total and entrances can be found throughout the city. We were already downtown and saw a large fountain with a duck swimming in it, the water flowed down and we followed it to where it flowed inside the lobby of a hotel, so we went inside. The water continued to flow straight through the lobby and out the other side so we crossed the room and went through the doors to find ourselves outdoors beholding a river in front of us with shops, restaurants, and tables all around. 

People were carrying shopping bags and drinks, mariachi musicians were serenading people sitting outside at tables, and all kinds of ducks swam in the river. Taxi boats, all brightly colored, would also go by on the river and if we listened, we could hear the driver giving a tour of what the boat was passing. We were hungry and as we marveled at the beauty of the Riverwalk, we kept our eyes open for a restaurant that had been suggested to us by some fellow campers - Casa Rio. 

Casa Rio

For the non-Spanish speaking folk, allow me to enlighten you with my years of learning on Duolingo...Casa means house and rio means river! Why they didn't name it Restaurante Rio, I'm not sure.

We came across lines of brightly colored umbrellas offering shade to restaurant patrons and a big sign that read Casa Rio. We decided to eat inside since the wait for outside was long compared to no wait for indoors (and we had worked up an appetite). When we looked at the menus, we were delighted to learn this was the first restaurant to open on the Riverwalk! We also love Mexican food and I had a good time using my Duolingo training to translate the food items off the menu. 

We ordered 2 items we would both enjoy to maximize the foods we could try, the Deluxe Dinner and the Flauta Plate.

When they arrived, we realized we were not sure of the proper ways to consume these foods. We ended up asking a waiter who informed us the tamale is cooked wrapped in a corn husk but the corn husk should indeed not be consumed. Although he did laugh, recalling a time a man had tried to take a bite out of the husk to get to the tamale. With this information, we unrolled the tamale from the husk and were amazed by how good it tasted. Every part of the entire meal was so delicious and fun to eat. 

When asked about dessert, we decided we had been so impressed with our meals why not see if dessert could also live up to those standards. We asked for the waiter's recommendation and he brought us sopapillas - fried dough coated in honey, sugar, and cinnamon. We are very familiar with fried dough but had never heard of putting honey on it! Something so simple and so delicious, we were surprised it was not being done to all fried dough everywhere! Delighted again, we were glad we had decided to get dessert. 

Also pictured, is us in a picture - a photographer asked if we would be in a picture for the restaurant and we agreed. She came back with a printed picture for us!

Explore!

The Riverwalk has music, decor, shops, birds, statues, cypress trees, and more to discover! It was a beautifully designed walking space and the downtown portion runs for 1.5 miles (where the bulk of the shops and restaurants are). The taxi boats sell day use tickets and give tours as they ferry people to all the different stops along the river. We found an outdoor theater with raised seats cut into the side of the hill and grass growing on the parts where you’d actually sit, making the seats quite comfortable. The stage was across the river, opposite the seats and 5 bells hung above it in the background. The large bell in the center was missing its clapper, and as a taxi boat went by we overheard the driver explaining each bell stood for one of the five missions that was started there in San Antonio. The middle bell represents the Alamo and is missing it’s clapper because it is the only one of the five that is not still used for mission work today. 

Japanese Tea Gardens

By the zoo (which has free parking) there is a park called the Japanese Tea Gardens and this was no regular garden. When we walked in, we realized we were surrounded by high walls of rock all around us, with cascading waterfalls, trees and bushes among those rocks. Birds were in the trees and the walkways were mostly bridges crossing huge pools of connected waterways. Turtles and fish could be seen through the crystal clear water going about their business. It was a truly wonderful space that has the potential to be very peaceful but it was also pretty crowded. People were there with professional photographers (which it is the perfect place to take professional photos) and families crowded the paths and made noise. We walked towards the zoo afterwards and enjoyed the surrounding walks and parks.

I did not take this, it's from sanantoniothingstodo.com, but you can see what I mean about the plants, water, stone walls, and bridges.

Selfies at the gardens - not as much green in February, but still breathtaking

Riverwalk at Night

The main purpose of visiting the Japanese Tea Gardens was to kill time before dusk. We wanted to see the Riverwalk at dark, with the reflections of the lights on the water. Walking around in the day, you can see all the rainbow lights hanging from the branches of the trees for over a mile of the path. We had to see what it looked like lit up!

Well as we walked and walked and it got darker and darker, but no lights came on. We wondered how late they waited and how dark it would have to be before we finally consulted the internet. Those lights are only lit for the Christmas season - from November to January. Oh well! Of course the lights from the shops and restaurants still reflected back in the water and that was certainly pretty. We decided to leave and as we walked back, there were 2 cypress trees on the river and their lights were on! I do wonder why only 2 trees were lit up, but am glad we got to see 2 trees with the brightly colored lights instead of 0.

Image from texashillcountry.com since as I said, we were not there for these lights but you can get the idea from this picture.

Day Trip was Worth

We only spent a day here and felt quite satisfied about that. We thoroughly enjoyed the activities we did, learned a lot about history and culture, felt good about the amount of money we spent, and were super tired from all the walking and the sun beating down all day. Another adventure in the books, and if you had any questions, remarks, or advice occur to you as you read this, please reach out or leave a comment!