San Antonio

Tripling the Welsh defence of the Alamo

Our first stop in San Antonio had to be the Alamo, one of the major historical sites of Texas. The Alamo played a pivotal role in the Texas revolution of 1835-1836, in which Texas won independence from Mexican rule and became a republic (http://www.thealamo.org/history/chronology/texas-revolution.html). Only a small portion of the original site still exists, comprising of the mission church, dating back to 1755 and the long barrack which housed the missionaries. The Church is converted into a museum displaying weapons and a list of all the defenders of the Alamo from the 1836 battle. There are also flags representing the native countries of the defenders and we were delighted to see a Welsh flag for the one Welsh defender, Lewis Johnson. Of course the boys decided they too needed weapons to become defenders, for which the gift shop was happy to oblige.

Next stop was the San Antonio River Walk (http://www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com/), which was nothing like I had imagined. The river has more the appearance of a canal, which is lined with bars and restaurants. It was bustling with the spring break throng so we took a river cruise rather than walk the relatively narrow towpath with the kids; there was no way I was going to jump in the murky San Antonio river to rescue them should they trip over the edge.

Our final tourist destination, before dinner in a restaurant on the River Walk, was the 'Tower of the Americas'. This 750ft tower with a rotating viewing platform offers panoramic views of the city, but not a cup of tea. To be fair, as tea is rarer than hen's teeth in the US, we could have had their version of hot tea, which was warmed-up-in-a-microwave iced tea, no joke! On our next trip I'm packing tea bags and a small kettle.

San Antonio from the water, above, by day and by night!