The Alamo

Nobody comes to the San Antonio area without visiting The Alamo. If you have never been, definitely go. If you've been once, you likely won't want to go back. Traffic is insane, crowds everywhere you go, and honestly the commercialism really detracts from an important historical site.

This is a popular location for tourists certainly, but the school kids also visit.......in droves. Most don't much care about the reverence of the place. They managed to get a day out of the classroom. Regardless, we joined the line-up to enter the chapel which has been heavily restored. Basically it's an empty shell that may or may not be similar to what the place looked like in 1836.

The Alamo is a more recent name for the Mission San Antonio de Valero. Founded in 1718 it served as a Franciscan mission along the San Antonio River. It was not only a religious center but also provided security to settlers from Indian attacks. Through time the mission had its walls reinforced and cannon installed. It became more of a walled fortress and served as such when the Mexican army came calling.

The front entrance to The Alamo site. This is the chapel where the fighters at the Alamo made their last stand. The chapel was damaged with cannon fire and you can sort of make out where the building was rebuilt.

The lineup. It moved pretty quick though. You weren't allowed to take photographs inside the chapel.

The front entrance to the Gift Shop building in the courtyard of the Mission.

The back side of the chapel.

The chapel suffered damage from the Alamo fight and later fell into disrepair.

An artists rendition of what the Alamo battle scene may have looked like. Only the restored chapel remains of the fortress.

The old well in the courtyard of the Alamo

This huge Live Oak tree was transplanted here years ago. They work hard at keeping it healthy.

Supports for the huge limbs on the Oak tree.

Back of the Chapel building.

Very pretty grounds.

Museum building that tells the story of the battle.

Dressed actors display some of the tools of battle.

Chapel front entrance

The cenotaph outside the walls of the Alamo.

The outside walls of the Alamo. Not in their original location. Much of the Alamo fortress is now paved over and part of the street.

If you want to learn more of the history of the battle of the Alamo, click here. In summary, back in 1836 present day Texas was part of Mexico and under the rule of a brutal dictator that didn't take kindly to thoughts of independence. The Texians thought otherwise and had several major battles with the Mexican army. One of the most famous took place at the Alamo mission. Famous fighters included Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and Colonel Travis. Of 189 fighters, no one survived. Only a couple of women and children were allowed to leave after the massacre. This event actually worked against Santa Ana and his Mexican army as news of the Alamo defeat strengthened the resolve of the Texians who ultimately won their independence from Mexico shortly after.

We toured the chapel, the museum, the gift shop, and wandered the grounds. We had enough of the crowds so down the road to a bar! The historical Buckhorn Saloon.

Very nice buildings in downtown.

The Buckhorn Museum, bar and restaurant.

Huge bar and mounted heads from all over the world.

Some oddities here. This guys looks like he's on the phone!

79 point buck. A world record.

They served excellent burgers and cold beer in a bar with mounted heads and horns from all over the world. You could also pay to visit their museum of oddities, but I'd seen eight-legged calves and one-eyed sheep and really wasn't interested in seeing more than what the main bar had to offer.

 After lunch we headed over to the River Walk area. San Antonio has this unique waterway through the middle of downtown on which they have built an amazing tourist trade. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of restaurants, bars, shops and other services. They offer narrated boat rides through the city which is a great way to stay off your feet and hear all about the history of the buildings and the area.

The blue line is the River that you can walk or take a boat. We toured the center portion, shown in the center of the map. (The T-shape and the loop below it.)

You could walk or ride. We liked to ride!

Modern artwork.

Tribute to the cattle drives of old.

This is the lock bridge. Lovers who commit place a lock on the chain link.

Thousands of locks!

The pontoon boats are all new and battery electric.

After our boat ride we headed back up to street level and wandered down some of the streets. As we headed back to the parking lot we just had to stop in at the Menger Hotel. Another historical site that was absolutely gorgeous.

Old San Antonio National Bank.

Horse-driven carriage is another option to see the sights.

Lots of bars downtown. Must be wild at night.

Inside the Menger Hotel. Bill Clinton liked to visit here.

Beautiful orchids.

Dining room in the Menger. This is a close as they let me get. I guess I didn't look like I could afford the prices! :-)

They had a very cool miniature store that sold all sorts of models. This was a replica of the Alamo battle.

Beautiful carvings for sale. It was only $3,000.

Menger Hotel

The Bar. Read below for the history!

So we enjoyed the day in downtown San Antonio, but sort of disappointed in the Alamo site itself. I guess we were expecting less commercialism and more of the un-restored actual buildings. Unfortunately they have long since disappeared as the city encroached. There are other missions down the road a ways and we definitely hope they are more 'historical'. We'll visit those another day.

One accident snarls traffic. We sat in this mess for well over an hour!

.....and that was Our View From Here!