San Antonio is a small town about 200 miles southwest of Houston. I had been wanting to go there ever since I came to Houston. But for various reasons, it kept on getting postponed weekend by weekend. But now I know why it was getting postponed. It had to be filled with new experiences and hence it happened when it had to happen.
San Antonio – Places to Visit
It is an interesting place. In its small walkable downtown area, there are many places of interest for a tourist.
River Walk
It has the famous river walk, which makes you feel that Europeans inhabited this place at some point in time. And wanted to create a homely atmosphere. You can take a boat ride on the river. Which is in the middle of all the famous landmarks of the city. Like the fastest hotel ever built, the biggest building ever moved and a brightly lighted tower. There are innumerable restaurants on both sides of the river with occasional recreational places like a stage and Aztec theater. If you ever visit San Antonio, this is a must do. Whether you choose to take the boat ride or not you must walk around the river for that laid back, tourist-friendly environment.
Alamo War Memorial
The other biggest attraction is the Alamo. Just outside the river center mall. This is a war memorial, where a 13-day long war is commemorated. You are not allowed to take pictures here and the entry is free. The lawns at the back make a good walk in the middle of the downtown with a lot of squirrels and birds.
When you come out of the Alamo, just across the road, you would see the Ripley’s Believe it or not Museum and a museum of Guinness book of world records. You can take the red colored trams to go around the downtown area. One of the places that I took it for was to go to ‘El Mercado’ or the ‘marketplace’. Which is a Mexican market, and one of the most colorful places that I would have seen after Rajasthan?
El Mercado or Market Place
There are small shops that sell mostly Curio’s and some small games and a lot of collectibles. It’s an experience to walk through the aisles of this market. On the way, there is a Spanish Governor’s house. Which had a similar old world charm as some of the old British bungalows have. With lots of carved chests and ornate lamps and tables, and a beautiful backyard. Next, to the Museums, there is shop ‘Del Sol’ which sells a lot of stuff that changes color in the sun. And the guy at the shop gives an interesting demo of the products that compels you to buy stuff from him.
Natural Caverns at San Antonio
Next day we drove down to Natural Caverns, which are about 15 miles north of San Antonio. These caverns are about 200 feet down the ground. And are too hot and humid. The caves have natural formations and are living caves, which are still growing. These caves were my biggest motivation to visit San Antonio. They were worth all the effort I made to go there.
Movie
After the caverns, we went to watch a movie at the ‘Aztec on the River’ theater. The movie was about Mayan culture and was preceded by an enchanting light and sound show. The theater has been created in an Aztec style. And is a beautiful creation with an aura of old world charm. Representation of the times when art and culture would have seen better days.
Towers of America
Post this we went on the ‘Towers of America’, which is the tallest structure in San Antonio. Like most tall structures in the US, city downtowns gives a 360-degree view of the city. If you go to these places in the late evening around sunset, they give a nice view of the changing colors of the city.
Couchsurfing
My trip was special not only for the variety and colors that it offers for a traveler. But because this was my first Couchsurfing experience. Now for those of you who are not aware of the concept, wait for my next post on Couchsurfing. This is also the first time that I traveled through buses in the US. While everyone warned me against traveling through it. Traveling by buses is not the most sophisticated way to travel in the US. But it is not as bad as it is portrayed out to be. In fact, I had my most relaxed time on the bus as that was the only time when I was not doing anything.
Recommend you read the following travel experiences in the USA.
Memories of a lone visit to New York, USA
Seeing the Alamo prompted me to go watch a movie based on it starring Billy Bob Thornton. I thought the riverwalk too is pretty nicely done.
Anu,
Houston through your eyes….. is a treat to watch.
Very descriptive.
Never heard about another wax museum except London . Well written post with information & Pictures !!
Yogi, now you can find wax museums around the world. There is one in Innovative Film City in Bangalore as well.
I would love to visit the caverns 😀
Ami, It was my first visit to caverns and I can never forget this visit. After this of course I have seen them at various places in India, Malaysia and Slovakia.