Remember the Alamo!

Monday morning we took off for San Antonio with Brenda and John. We pulled into the KOA mid-afternoon and within no time, we were on the city bus heading for the Riverwalk. We walked up and down looking at the river and the restaurants and settled on dinner at Rio Rio.
With only a few days to see the city, we hit it hard on Tuesday. We saw the IMAX theater movie, Alamo, which gave us a bit of historical perspective on the Alamo- although it was definitely a case of the victors writing the history. Davey Crockett, Jim Bowie and the rest of the rebels came across as freedom fighters – fighting for Texas independence from the cruel, heartless Mexican General Santa Anna.

From there, we took a trolley tour which took us to 2 of the missions- San Jose and Mission Concepcion- and around the city for a general orientation. We stopped for drinks in the Menger Hotel – a beautiful old hotel directly across from the Alamo. The bar was reminiscent of a British pub and was evidently the hotel where Teddy Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders.

Our package tour/IMAX experience also included a Boat Trip down the Paseo del Rio through the Riverwalk area. It was THE way to see the river. The city has a European flavor – and the Riverwalk restaurants are packed – every day of the week. We tried to have dinner at the Buckhorn Saloon- but got there just as it was closing. The manager let us in for a look-see. What a bizarre place- filled with animal heads—a taxidermers delight. We walked through the Esquire- the “longest bar in Texas” (the bar top can hold 5,973 longneck bottles of Lone Star beer). It’s also the oldest running bar- open since the end of Prohibition. But it was smoky and filled with a lot of the locals. We stopped for dinner at Casa Rio- the oldest restaurant on the Riverwalk. We got a table right on the river and had a great and cheap dinner with excellent margaritas.