Again we were staying in the outskirts of the city centre but this was to be to our advantage this time. Right next door was a restaurant that featured on a TV program over here that cooks a Texas speciality - chicken-fried steak. This was bizzare as it was a steak that had been seasoned and then fried like KFC chicken, topped with a local cheese sauce, with a side of garlic mashed potatoes. The portions were also huge (Texas size apparently) and it was nice to try it. Gemma wasn't too keen as she was of the opinion that the steak had been ruined by the batter but I liked it.
We didn't know what to expect from the city centre and were pleasantly surprised with the River Walk area. It is a fantastic 3 mile stretch of restaurants and bars along the river bank which gives it a great Mediterranean vibe along the lines of Venice, but better. The place was buzzing and the sun was out which added to the niceness of the area.
This area nearly never was as the city once experienced flooding along the banks of the now attractive San Antonio River. Many of the city leaders favored paving over the river as a means of flood control. In 1924, the San Antonio Conservation Society battled to keep the river afloat and backed a design proposed by Robert H.H. Hugman in 1929—the River Walk. The project was finished with WPA funding in 1938 and has remained a source of life and a hub of culture for the city ever since.
After having a walk along the river it was time to visit the Alamo. I had been looking forward to this and I wasn't dissapointed. It was great to get up close to a site that is key to so much history. We were able to learn a lot from here that was quite interesting.
In the 18th century, the Spanish church established five Catholic missions along the San Antonio River, primarily to extend its dominion northward from Mexico, but also to convert the native population. The first mission established in San Antonio, the Alamo (San Antonio de Valero) served as a way station between east Texas and Mexico.
In 1793, the mission was secularized and soon abandoned. Ten years later, it became a fortress housing the Mexican Army group the Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras, who are believed to have given the mission the name "Alamo".
Mexican soldiers held the mission until December 1835, when General Martin Perfecto de Cos surrendered it to the Texian Army following the siege of Bexar. A relatively small number of Texian soldiers then occupied the compound. Texian General Sam Houston believed the Texians did not have the manpower to hold the fort and ordered Colonel James Bowie to destroy it. Bowie chose to disregard those orders and instead worked with Colonel James C. Neill to fortify the mission.
On February 23, Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led a large force of Mexican soldiers into San Antonio de Bexar and promptly initiated a siege. Santa Anna's army outside San Antonio nearly caught them by surprise. Undaunted, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo together. The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna's army. William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to communities in Texas. On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly two hundred. Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground and asked any man willing to stay and fight to step over — all except one did. As the defenders saw it, the Alamo was the key to the defense of Texas, and they were ready to give their lives rather than surrender their position to General Santa Anna. Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee.
The siege ended on March 6, when the Mexican army attacked the Alamo; by the end of the Battle of the Alamo all or almost all of the defenders were killed. When the Mexican army retreated from Texas at the end of the Texas Revolution, they tore down many of the Alamo walls and burned some of the buildings. Despite this, many people around the world regard the Alamo as a symbol that represents a heroic struggle against impossible odds — a place where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. For this reason, the Alamo remains hallowed ground and the Shrine of Texas Liberty.
From the Alamo it was onto the Tower of the Americas park. Tower of the Americas is a 750-foot observation tower/restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. The tower was designed by San Antonio architect O'Neil Ford and was built as the theme structure of the 1968 World's Fair, HemisFair '68. The tower was the tallest observation tower in the United States from 1968 until 1996, when the Las VegasStratosphere Tower was completed.
Also located in this park is a collection of old houses that have been maintained to allow people to glimpse at the old architecture. In addition, there are some nice waterfall features to enjoy.
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