A cloudy start to the day, but it quickly cleared and we had another clear sunny day with temperatures climbing into the low 70’s.
After breakfast we headed downtown to find “our” federal building parking lot, once there we found again that we could leave the truck there for free. We headed off to find the hop-on-hop-off bus stop; this was not as easy as expected as evidently the company is not allowed to put any bus stop signs out!
We parked ourselves in the general area of where we thought the stop should be and flagged down the first red double decker that we saw.
We were close enough to the bus stop obviously. Unfortunately we were the only ones on the bus at the time and the bus driver was more interested in learning about the Canadian tax and healthcare systems than giving the commentary. The first stop was the Alamo.
The Alamo started life as one of the missions established in the 1750’s. By the early 1800’s the Spanish had based a cavalry unit there. In 1836 the Mexican army defeated the Texans in the battle of the Alamo.
We went into the Alamo expecting to see sights similar to the other missions, however all we say inside was a large display of firearms and a gift shop.
The bus continued on its tour, although there was really very little to see and very little to listen to. I think this is the first city tour we have been on where there was more music than commentary. This confirmed something I had been suspecting about San Antonio since we got here, there really is nothing special about it.
Just beyond the Alamo is the Emily Morgan Hotel, with its rather distinctive shape. Evidently Emily Morgan is the subject of the song The Yellow Rose of Texas.
We stayed on the bus for a few more stops and got off at the Pearl Brewery complex. This is the site of an old, wait for it….., brewery which is now in the process of being turned into an upscale yuppy (or whatever the latest word is) neighbourhood of apartments and boutique stores, this was confirmed when we dropped into the local coffee shop / internet hot spot and realised 90% of the computers in use were Macs.
The Main Brewery Building
The Brewery Stables
Back on the bus again, this time to the market square. This was a very Mexican area with many stores and restaurants. We had a fine Mexican lunch here after wandering around the stores for a while, we even bought some ceramic house numbers to replace the fading brass ones on the outside of our home.
From here it was back to the beginning, again little commentary and nothing specific to see. Although San Antonio seems to be a bright, clean and safe city there really isn’t anything memorable about it. I suspect as we head into New Mexico and Central Arizona we may find more of the same.