Paseo del Rio (the River Walk) , the Alamo – All on Saintly, Super Bowl Sunday

Sunday, February 7, 2010

We got up fairly early today to head into San Antonio.  There was quite a change in the weather overnight so, it was quite cool and overcast this morning. The temperature didn’t rise much above 7 degrees Celsius.  On the agenda was the River Walk and the Alamo.

Because it was a Sunday and the weather was cool by Texas standards there wasn’t a lot of activity in the downtown area when we arrived.  We parked in a city owned parkade for $8 for the day across from the Hyatt Grand hotel. We wandered around the downtown a little till we landed up at Alamo Plaza – the home of the Alamo.  We had been told by a number of people that the real Alamo is not like the one that we remember in the movie of the same name with John Wayne as Davey Crockett. (Yes Davey Crockett was a real person who died defending the Alamo – he was not just a fabrication by Walt Disney.) There are some huge buildings that completely surround Alamo Plaza but the plaza actually creates a nice buffer zone around the Alamo. 

The Alamo was originally a Spanish Mission – with thick exterior limestone palisade walls – the “movie Alamo” shows the defenders in the church itself, but this was actually  where the few women and children were sequestered during the battle.  Inside the church a docent behind a large scale model of the battleground, described events that led up to the battle and the battle itself. 

Prior to 1836, Texas (or Tejas) was a Mexican state, although it was populated by Anglos from the United States by almost 10:1.  Mexico had just won its independence from Spain and had just been through a revolution itself.  The Mexican leader, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, had nullified the Mexican constitution and was ready to put down the seeds of revolt in Tejas.  (Keep in mind that most of these Texans were from the United States which only 60 years earlier had declared it’s independence from Great Britain; they weren’t in any mood to be pushed around by a distant, dictatorial regime.)  When the Texans defeated the brother-in-law of Santa Anna in a battle over a small canon; Santa Anna marched out of Mexico toward the Alamo, near San Antonio.  Santa Anna laid siege to the 200 defenders of the Alamo, bombarding it constantly for 12 days.  On day 13 Santa Anna launched his 1,600 man, ground attack on the Alamo.  The battle was over within 90 minutes – all the active defenders were either killed in battle or executed as traitors immediately.  James Bowie, who made the Bowie knife famous; lawyer William Barret “Bill” Travis and David Crockett, a former US Congressman from Tennessee were all dead.  “Remember the Alamo” became the rallying cry for the Texan Revolutionaries.  Forty-six days later on April 21, 1836, the Texans defeated Santa Anna’s army at the battle of San Jacinto, south-west of present day Houston.  The independent Republic of Texas was born.

After we had walked the grounds of the Alamo we walked along the Paseo del Rio (the only Spanish that I’ve learned) the River Walk. The San Antonio River runs through the middle of the city and is crossed by many bridges in the downtown area.  It is only about 30 feet across at any point and curves very gently in its course.  The river has been extended by an artificial horseshoe-shaped channel with each leg extending about three city blocks, that forms a box shape.  The River Center Mall is located at one end.  All along the route are literally hundreds of restaurants.  From burger joints to high class fine dining, from TexMex to the Hard Rock Cafe.  Most of the restaurants have outdoor seating for guests and most have hostesses or greeters stationed right along the sidewalk just saying hello to the passers-by, no hard sell just greeting. Many of the restaurants have sheltered areas and large propane heaters to extend the season.  One TexMex Restaurant had ponchos and blankets that many of the customers were wearing when we were walking by.  Periodically there are stairs that lead to street level where you can explore the streets above.  There are numerous water taxis/excursion boats that run along the route and will let people off at various stops.  During the evenings the River Walk apparently really comes to life with bands and mariachi groups.

We returned home in time to enjoy the Super Bowl and the American commercials.  It was nice to see the New Orleans Saints take the Lombardi Trophy home…Mardi Gras is starting early!! I heard one announcer call it Lombardi Gras.

Observation -Masonry is big down in Texas. Almost every city that we’ve been in has a huge Lodge.  In little Waco we saw 2 very large Masonic Buildings. There was a Masonic plaque mounted on the exterior walls around the Alamo with the names of a number of known Masons who died in the Alamo.