Discovering San Antonio

Judy. Once I read an interview with a woman from Lagos, Nigeria, who had come to the US to study. She said the greatest misconception about her home was that people thought Lagos was filled with grass huts. “No,” she had to explain, “it’s a big city—skyscrapers and all!”

Truth is, I probably thought the same as those folks she met. I’d like to tell you I’m better than that, especially with internet photos available to me, but the fact is that I often picture places differently before I get there.

Take San Antonio. I already told you I have a sense of “big” here, but before we came, I vaguely remembered the little town with the Alamo as the center that I had visited as a child. When we asked friends who had visited here what we should do, the immediate response was “Riverwalk!” which I pictured as a small downtown touristy area. Certainly there had to be more to do than that.

But San Antonio IS big, and the Riverwalk is so much more than the sweet, touristy downtown walk with shops and restaurants and an occasional tour boat. And while we’ve spent days at home, we’ve also really come to appreciate how much there is to see and do here.

Downtown Riverwalk

The Riverwalk now runs on either side of the city for several miles. Ted told you in our last post about biking the Mission Trail, which is a part of it. But even downtown, we often took some of its winding walks from one part of the city to another, avoiding the noise and traffic above us on the streets. Early on, we went to the Pearl, a brewery turned live/play/work community, and wandered on the walk toward downtown. It was quiet, and really beautiful, and USED by people.

 

Riverwalk by the Pearl

We waded through the crowds at the Alamo, but it’s only the first of the five Missions located near the river in the city.  Our visit to those other missions taught us a lot about how and why they were established, and their part in the history of this area of Texas.

One afternoon we rode the bus downtown and walked to Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, one of the two “painted churches” in San Antonio itself. German and Czech immigrants missed their elaborate churches back home, and painted the interiors to reflect the glory they remembered.  

A Painted Church

At the Briscoe

We took the bus to the Briscoe Western Art Museum, with its Western art and historical collection of artifacts, and another night, after a dinner of appetizers and drinks, rode it again to see the historical sound and light show on the façade of the Cathedral, where, incidentally, we had seen a harp concert two weeks before.

The historical sound and light show at the Cathedral

Not far from us is the Japanese Garden, built by a Japanese family, decades ago, in an old quarry. It was well worth the short walk, even on a crowded Sunday. 

Waterfall at the Japanese Garden

The bus system itself worked well for us. We bought senior passes for the month and rode to the Rodeo, the McNay Art Museum, the grocery store, and downtown whenever we felt like it.

Around the corner from our home is NOLA, a New Orleans-inspired breakfast place. I can’t say the beignets and café-au-lait were as good as in NO, but the blue crab omelet was killer. And around the corner from that was their evening restaurant, the Cookhouse, with the best oysters I’ve had in awhile, straight from the Gulf.

 

The church we attended, Christ Episcopal, is huge, with a full campus of buildings and four Sunday services, but they have numerous Bible study groups and some great outreach opportunities. On Saturday mornings, we were able to help make breakfast tacos which they served, restaurant-style, to the homeless and working poor who came, and who later were welcomed to the food pantry and the clothes closet. On the Sunday before Mardi Gras, they had a Gospel Jazz service that had been started by Jim Culloum, who used to do the Riverwalk Jazz program on NPR, Jim has since passed away, but there were some mighty fine jazz musicians on that altar. 

Groceries ready for those who need them

Texans being the way they are, an old friend from high school, one of several who've become Texans, drove five hours to spend time with us. Melvin--now using his middle name "Dallas"--is a good friend. 

Texans have big hearts

We never made it to the Tower of the Americas, for a view of the city, or to the zoo, but we saw plenty of other San Antonio sights.

So, yeah. San Antonio is big and bustling, with a lot going on. And a whole lot more than the Riverwalk. 

Sunset from our house