It  had been a while since our last trip but we weren't in the mood for a long one so a short trip to San Antonio seemed to fit the bill. We had heard about that city from fellow travelers and friends for years and after reviewing what there was to see thought four days would let us look at the major sights, and we were right.

 

 

MONDAY Plane scheduling is always a problem. Our flight took off at 7am, which meant we had to get up by 3, be in our car by 4 and the airport by 5. Not much sleep. Then again we're pretty spoiled as two centuries ago this trip would have taken months. To maximize our sleep we opted to get a hotel as close as possible to the Sacramento Airport Sunday. To make it more enjoyable we visited the UC Davis gardens and had a good brewpub meal. Having been responsible and gotten to the airport in plenty of time, an announcement came on that our flight was delayed two hours. I can only assume the pilot put it in overdrive as 15 minutes later they announced it would only be a half hour late. Even with a second flight delay in Phoenix, we still arrived at San Antonio by 3pm. We had heard the buses were pretty good here, so drug our one luggage to the airport bus station, paid our $2 each and got to within 4 blocks of our hotel. We could have taken a later bus to within a block, but we looked at this as an opportunity to walk the town at leisure, plus one medium suitcase on good rollers and a small carry-on wasn't a real burden.The environs surrounding the downtown while not very upscale were clean but looked strangely abandoned. Our Crockett hotel was in the center of things and the cost was modest. It was the grand hotel during it's time, and while modern ones surround it now, it still stands out with it's classic architecture. Our room showed it's age a little but everything was clean, comfortable and fairly spacious. I took a short walk to the Alamo and then we went down to the hotel's restaurant for a brew followed with a good meal. It sure is nice to have the same room for four days, no packing and unpacking. Click on some pictures to enlarge

 

UC Davis Putah Creek garden area		Old fashion decorations in front of our hotel.

 

TUESDAY Aside from our shower valve being backwards and no fan, everything else worked. Out to the River Walk which was totally amazing. There we stopped at CVS for a few groceries. And it was very few as the prices were outrageous plus it was hard to find anything not in small sugary packages. Back to the hotel before heading out again to get tickets for our Hop-on-Hop-off tour bus. For about $50 each we got a 90 minute tour of the city with narration and could get off and back on at any stop, plus it was good for two days. Then back to our hotel to wait for the first one at about 9:30. Only to find it took us right back to the office we just came from so wasted about an hour waiting around. But our lady driver was a real kick and we enjoyed a history of the city mixed in with juicy gossip of notable characters while being driven around looking at all the interesting sights. The whole circle route took about 90 minutes. We figured we'd first scout out what there was to see and then get off at what looked interesting. After a bit of lunch we took the bus to the Japanese Garden which was set in a quarry and very unique. Our next and last stop was the Grand Market which looked just like we were in parts of Old Mexico. Nothing we'd like but it was still a kick to look at. Unfortunately we had to wait an hour for the bus instead of their claimed half hour. Back to a room for a little R&R and then a short walk to the Yardhouse Brew Pub just south of us in the mall. The mall was very modern with the brewpub being the local get together for a lot of young people. We fit right in of course. But we enjoyed it as the food was good as was the beer and the prices were reasonable.

River Walk as we first saw it from street level.		View from the river level.

Well, if you can't beat them, join them.		Mimi hob knobing with one of the locals.

WEDNESDAY: The first thing we did is secure a place for our Unesco Mission tour for tomorrow and then took a walk around our neighborhood. We took in another section of the River Walk before heading back to catch the first Hop on Hop off bus as our ticket was good for two days. Rode the same route and got off at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. Got a slight discount for being a veteran and started our tour of the garden. While we enjoyed the first or southern most part of the garden it was a bit rough and unkempt. The rest of it was amazing though. They had set up for a winter display with hundreds of silk flowers and insects along the walks, some of the displays up to 20 ft high. The gardens were nicer in this section plus they had two very modern Glass and Metal arboretums containing unusual plants. The northeast section had a wonderful little old fashion garden area and homestead. They quietly played classic rock music which I'm sure made the plants happy. I'm also sure Rap 'music' would have caused some die off. As we rounded the northern section we ran into a peaceful wooded walk around a small lake, all of it lined with unique creative silk flowers, insects, or other fanciful creatures.The north east section was more classic with brick walks, stone walls and fountains with more formal gardens, but nicely done. About noon we had lunch at the snack bar which was unique as they actually had some healthy food – deli sandwiches. These we enjoyed outdoors under the shade of old oak trees with pleasant views of our lush surroundings. After that we had just enough time to get back on the bus and take in the San Antonio Art Museum. It was interesting to talk to a nice youngish Japanese professional lady on the topic of economics and politics. She was a lecturer here and had moved to the USA 15 years ago, but was not sure if she would make the same move today due to the state of our country. The museum took over a large brewery building and revamped the whole inside into an ultra modern art exhibit center stocked with very tastefully and rare modern art and ancient artifacts. After another hour wait for the bus which was suppose to be a half hour, we got back to our hotel for a brief rest before going out to our Yard House brew pub again.

View from inside our bus.		Some of the amazing silk flowers and critters of the botanical garden

Mimi taking a break from our walks.		One of the wonderful homey country garden cottages.

The spacious luminescent San Antinio Art museum. filled with intriguing pieces.		The pathway between it's two buildings which gave one person vertigo.

THURSDAY Our Unesco tour said they had hotel pickup which was a real plus. But somehow forgot to mention is was only select hotels after we paid for it and ours wasn't one of them, so we had a 5 block hike that morning. To add to that our driver looked like a homeless person being gaunt, a little unkempt, and lost in wrinkly poor fitting clothes. But he wound up delivering a captivating informative dialogue with a great candid style and had a good sense of humor. We started off with a short ride through the city and a running narration of its history. A lot of the area was settled by German refugees due to poor conditions in their home country which explains much of the culture here from the food to names.Our first stop was at the Mission Concepcion which was undergoing a face-lift. After a quick bite to eat we toured all the open room available to us and admired the grand stonework. Next we visited Missions of San José San Juan, and finally Mission Espada. The latter was our favorite. Not because it was one of the biggest or most complete, but because it had one of the nicest intimate livable layouts with lots of landscaping interspersed with tastefully arranged flowers and other homey touches which provided a peaceful shaded intimate relaxing atmosphere. Our driver dropped us off close to our hotel where we stayed for a little R&R. After that we went out to explore the southern area as well as keeping an eye out for a good brewpub. Unfortunately many of them catered heavily to the a certain kind of tourists that needed hawkers to pull them into expensive, tacky and loud bars. In desperation we headed back north and found a nice quiet brewpub called Waxy's which had more of an Italian cafe atmosphere with quiet views of the relaxing river traffic. As it was early we headed back to our room for another hour or two before returning for a very pleasant and relaxing evening there of beer sampling followed by one of the their creative local dishes.

One of the many fascinating doorways. Note the large keystone.		More in the Pueblo style than others

 

 

The mission was so appealing, this friendly lady was one of three artists		The inside corridor of the mission.

View of the mission from the well.		There were so many 'love' locks on this bridge they had to reinforce it.

FRIDAY Got up just before 5:00 and had our mornings swill (instant room coffee). Then realize we had to do our plane seat reservation or be last to board. In near Panic we got online and with some incredible luck managed to get boarding section A which was one of the best ones!. Looked over our To Do list and then took off for the San Fernando Cathedral about five blocks away. It was actually nice rivaling some of the smaller cathedrals in Spain. We saw the grand old stone courthouse across the street and noticed they also had a museum. There we had to get a security check where a nice police lady spotted my dangerous Swiss Army knife with a 1” blade. But she let me hide it outside. We toured the museum which was a kick and then had a small snack in their cafeteria which was a considerable distance underground. Our next stop was the Briscoe Western Museum which wasn't that big and cost a bit but it was extremely well done with very tasteful art pieces. It was about noon and we thought we might grab a sandwich. Asking around one fellow recommended Shiloh's just a block away which apparently was an institution here. We sat down and split one of the best Reuben sandwiches ever in this 175 year old German restaurant. Plus to further immerse myself in the local experience I got a big slice of German chocolate cake. We've gone to tourist restaurants before and they are often high in price and low in quality. But we'd go to Shiloh's again.

 

One of the many paintings in the Western Museum.		This amazingly detailed diorama of the Alamo battle measured about ten feet square.

SATURDAY: We woke up at 2:30 and it was really too late to go back to sleep. Within 45 minutes we were ready to go. Luckily our ride came early and we were at the airport in no time. Our plane left right on time which was a surprise and we got home about noon the same day. Great trip. Four days was about right to see the major sights. And doing without a car was refreshing and somewhat liberating.