Today, I would like to talk about San Antonio, which I visited last week for the first time.
San Antonio is quite close to Austin and many people go there for the weekend – and vice versa – and it is a city with a charming center – thanks to its wonderful riverwalk – and it is also a place full of history – thanks to the presence of the Alamo and the missions.
More than half of San Antonio's population is Hispanic, mostly Mexicans I imagine since the city is not far from the border with Mexico, giving it a Southern charm and being a colonial city.
It was founded by Spaniards in the 1700.
This Texan area has an incredible historical and cultural offer, largely due to its important heritage of Spanish and Mexican architecture and traditions.
San Antonio, with 1.5 million inhabitants, is not attractive when you arrive there by car but its city center will immediately fascinate you.
San Antonio is nicknamed the little Venice of Texas, with the river that crosses it and its small canals.
It is also the most European in Texas and it’s often defined romantic. It is also a city that can be easily explored on foot or by bike.
In full expansion for its quality of life and its dynamism, its population has doubled in 40 years.
Well, the Riverwalk is a bit like the heart of San Antonio. These canals, located right in the center, give charm to downtown San Antonio. On what is also called the Paseo del Rio, you can walk there day and night, restaurants and hotels are located on the sides, small boats carry you around.
It is also the real green lung of the city and San Antonio without its riverwalk wouldn't really be what it is. At the beginning of the 20s a huge flood of the San Antonio River pushed the city to find a way to regulate these floods and therefore developed, over the years, the idea of the riverwalk, thanks to a local architect.
An idea which did not appeal to the locals at first but which then found an echo with funding and the start of work in the 30s.
I loved having a drink there, taking advantage of the shade as soon as possible given the fact that the temperature here in Texas is already around 40 Celsius and I also enjoyed strolling from one bank to the other by crossing cute little bridges.
It is possible to visit the Alamo. For many inhabitants of the State, the Alamo is a symbol of strength, courage and determination that arises from a small group of soldiers, who proved their worth during that armed confrontation.
“Remember The Alamo” is a famous phrase and this is the most famous building in the State.
In the Battle of the Alamo, the Texan combatants, being in numerical minority, defended this fort in the south of the state trying to contain and defeat the Mexican troops.
The Mexican soldiers crushed and killed almost everyone and, for Texans, the Battle of the Alamo became an enduring symbol of their heroic resistance to oppression and their fight for independence, which they would achieve later that year.
San Antonio has also 5 missions, religious settlements promoted by the Spanish Crown to colonize the American Far West and convert the local indigenous people to the Christian faith. Many of these settlements, including the Alamo, later lost their religious character to become fortifications.
