Hello fellow travelers,
This blog is a snippet from my visit to San Antonio. It is a beautiful city with a lot of culture and heritage. Following are some of the well known and not so well known attractions we visited in San Antonio and Austin. As goes with all my blogs, my disclaimer that I am not receiving any monetary benefits from any establishments listed below. These are facts purely based on my experiences.
We flew in to Austin which is only 45 mins from San Antonio. We rented a car and booked a house through airbnb to stay, while in San Antonio. If you read my blog regularly, you would know that I am a vegetarian and like to have access to a kitchen. The place where we stayed was very close to the famous river walk of San Antonio. The main house had a small guest extension (our adobe for seven days) and had its own entrance. It was a perfect accommodation for two people and we had a great time. The hosts were really nice and made us feel comfortable during our stay. This is the link to the place where we stayed. The San Pedro park right in front of the house is the oldest park in San Antonio. The airbnb link to the vacation rental is as follows:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2249908
(1) Alamo: Also known as San Antonio De Valero, was the first attraction we visited. Needless to say, it is an iconic establishment of San Antonio's history and the revolution that happened there. There are audio and personal guided tours available at nominal charges. We went with the guided tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we learnt a great deal from her about the history of the place and the battle of the Alamo in 1836.
(2) The second best attraction of San Antonio is the five Spanish missions that are spread along the river; Mission San Jose, Mission Concepcion, Mission San Juan and Mission Espada. You would say, wait a minute, these are only four though, that is because the fifth mission is Alamo which I described above.
Of the remaining four missions, Mission San Jose is the best maintained. You can watch a short free movie on the missions here and can take guided tours of the place. You can also do biking on the trail connecting all five missions. I wanted to bike my way through all the missions but it was extremely cold that day to be biking outside.
The missions are a great reflection of spanish and moorish architecture and represent the perpetuation of spanish way of life among the natives and tribals. It was fascinating to learn how natives adopted this alternative way of life to survive the hostile environment against them.
The San Jose church is still functional and holds regular sunday service.
(3) A day trip to Austin: We also made a day trip to Austin, as it was such a short ride away. We had an early lunch at Iron Cactus in Austin downtown. It is a mexican place with great ambiance. We then covered University of Texas, Capitol building, Mount Bonnell, 360 bridge, Zilker Park and ended the day with drinks on Rainey Street.
Rainey Street was my most memorable experience. The whole street is lined with houses that have been converted into bars. Each bar is a unique design in itself. We went to Clive bar and had a mexican muele that is served in a copper mug. If you visit Rainey Street, mexican muele drink is a must have.
(4) Natural Bridge Caverns: The last attraction was Natural Bridge Caverns. These are 180 feet deep caverns with beautiful stalactite and stalagmite creations. The nature was at its peak in terms of beauty and might. There are guided tours available which last for 75 mins. It is a little bit of a climb while coming out so might not be appropriate for senior people and people with knee problems.
(5) River Walk: We concluded our trip to San Antonio with a walk and some drinks on the river walk. The river walk is accessible from right across the Alamo and as you pass through Hotel Hyatt. We went back to river walk on our last day for a boat ride. It is a very romantic place to hang out, and has some of the best places to eat and drink in San Antonio.
Hope you enjoyed reading through my experiences in San Antonio. Please do not hesitate to leave a comment below if you liked my blog. More travel experiences to come, stay tuned.
This blog is a snippet from my visit to San Antonio. It is a beautiful city with a lot of culture and heritage. Following are some of the well known and not so well known attractions we visited in San Antonio and Austin. As goes with all my blogs, my disclaimer that I am not receiving any monetary benefits from any establishments listed below. These are facts purely based on my experiences.
We flew in to Austin which is only 45 mins from San Antonio. We rented a car and booked a house through airbnb to stay, while in San Antonio. If you read my blog regularly, you would know that I am a vegetarian and like to have access to a kitchen. The place where we stayed was very close to the famous river walk of San Antonio. The main house had a small guest extension (our adobe for seven days) and had its own entrance. It was a perfect accommodation for two people and we had a great time. The hosts were really nice and made us feel comfortable during our stay. This is the link to the place where we stayed. The San Pedro park right in front of the house is the oldest park in San Antonio. The airbnb link to the vacation rental is as follows:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2249908
(1) Alamo: Also known as San Antonio De Valero, was the first attraction we visited. Needless to say, it is an iconic establishment of San Antonio's history and the revolution that happened there. There are audio and personal guided tours available at nominal charges. We went with the guided tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we learnt a great deal from her about the history of the place and the battle of the Alamo in 1836.
(2) The second best attraction of San Antonio is the five Spanish missions that are spread along the river; Mission San Jose, Mission Concepcion, Mission San Juan and Mission Espada. You would say, wait a minute, these are only four though, that is because the fifth mission is Alamo which I described above.
Of the remaining four missions, Mission San Jose is the best maintained. You can watch a short free movie on the missions here and can take guided tours of the place. You can also do biking on the trail connecting all five missions. I wanted to bike my way through all the missions but it was extremely cold that day to be biking outside.
The missions are a great reflection of spanish and moorish architecture and represent the perpetuation of spanish way of life among the natives and tribals. It was fascinating to learn how natives adopted this alternative way of life to survive the hostile environment against them.
The San Jose church is still functional and holds regular sunday service.
(3) A day trip to Austin: We also made a day trip to Austin, as it was such a short ride away. We had an early lunch at Iron Cactus in Austin downtown. It is a mexican place with great ambiance. We then covered University of Texas, Capitol building, Mount Bonnell, 360 bridge, Zilker Park and ended the day with drinks on Rainey Street.
Rainey Street was my most memorable experience. The whole street is lined with houses that have been converted into bars. Each bar is a unique design in itself. We went to Clive bar and had a mexican muele that is served in a copper mug. If you visit Rainey Street, mexican muele drink is a must have.
(4) Natural Bridge Caverns: The last attraction was Natural Bridge Caverns. These are 180 feet deep caverns with beautiful stalactite and stalagmite creations. The nature was at its peak in terms of beauty and might. There are guided tours available which last for 75 mins. It is a little bit of a climb while coming out so might not be appropriate for senior people and people with knee problems.
(5) River Walk: We concluded our trip to San Antonio with a walk and some drinks on the river walk. The river walk is accessible from right across the Alamo and as you pass through Hotel Hyatt. We went back to river walk on our last day for a boat ride. It is a very romantic place to hang out, and has some of the best places to eat and drink in San Antonio.
Hope you enjoyed reading through my experiences in San Antonio. Please do not hesitate to leave a comment below if you liked my blog. More travel experiences to come, stay tuned.
