I thought that I should talk about the shortest trip I have taken and that was to San Antonio where we were living. San Antonio has been touched by a lot of history and this is what I want to share. It would take many books and forever to go into the past of San Antonio but I will only dwell on one aspect, the five missions of San Antonio and our visit with two friends from El Paso to visit these institutions. I will only mention our small brush with history in looking at these missions and their importance to so many Texans.
We had not thought much about visiting them until Barbara’s best friend, Trini, and her husband came to see us and wanted a better look at these historical forts which provided refuge and faith to their inhabitants.
The most widely known of the five is The Alamo in downtown San Antonio which has had a difficult past but was rescued and
protected for many years by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas before losing their claim to The Texas General Land Office and it’s overseer, George P. Bush, the Texas Land Commissioner.
The Alamo was built to educate area Americans and their conversion to Christianity. It was originally known as Mission San Antonio and used as a fort and a religious school. It became most famous in 1836 when it was attacked by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and his Mexican Army and most all of it’s people died in the battle that followed.
As you can see, the Alamo was much larger originally, but only the Church remains as a memorial to the past. The chapel looks much different now, but has many visitors daily who cannot understand how such a small building can be so special to ,Texans.
Our friends spent some time looking at the Alamo and listening to docents who give a historic perspective to the history, but they also want the visitors to enter the shop and buy the goods they have for sale, most probably made in Japan or China.
The San Antonio River comes up from springs in midtown San Antonio and goes on and joins the Guadalupe River and is about 240 miles long. This is why the other missions built where they did, so they could have ample water to use.
The next Mission we visited and toured the grounds was Mission San Jose and it’s church.
Mission San Jose was much more of interest to us as it contained several buildings.
The grounds of the Mission are much more colorful than the churches themselves. The Missionsare showing their age and give a historic look to the buildings. I guess they would be peculiar if they appeared to be new.
The churches, from a distant, are more beautiful than up close, and blend in well with the surrounding landscape. Trini and Barbara seemed to enjoy the experience of just walking around the vicinity and looking at the scenery.
After all the touring of the missions, we went to the River Walk for a good meal
And, finally seeing Hilario and Trini off as we finish our long day of sightseeing.