I recently traveled to San Antonio for a business trip.  As much as I travel, I typically don’t look forward to any new trips being added to my schedule, but I was excited at the chance to visit the Alamo.  Anyone that has sat through a U.S. History class has heard of the Alamo.  Being a history buff, I’ve read quite a bit about the history of the southwest outside of the classroom. The chance to visit the Alamo in San Antonio was worth the plane ride.

I had several people warn me before I went that it wasn’t very impressive to see.  I was told that it was smaller than you would expect.  This didn’t faze me.  As soon as I checked into my room, I headed down the street to visit the historic site.  Luckily, the conference I attended was at a downtown hotel and I was only about a block away.

The Alamo historic site is not very large.  Of the makeshift fort from the war for Texas Independence, only the church and the barracks remain.  Still, this is enough to give you a feel for what the structure was like and maybe even how the defenders felt as they waited for the help that never came.

Church with barracks to the Left.

Barracks with church on right.

In actuality, the Alamo of our history books would have taken up the street in the picture above and a portion of the building across the plaza.  If you visit the official Alamo website there is a map that shows the original building overlaying the modern street.

After delighting my inner historical nerd, I looked around to see what else San Antonio had to offer and was pleasantly surprised.  My hotel was adjacent to the River Walk.  When I arrived, I was so intent upon visiting the Alamo I didn’t even realize the river was just outside the hotel back door.

The San Antonio River runs through the city, but it doesn’t look like a typical river.  Periodic flooding occurred  in San Antonio prior to the 20^th century.  Starting in the 1920’s the San Antonio River was made over with a dam, a bypass channel, and a manmade waterway.  I did have a picture, but lost it somehow.  In my defense, my wife takes the pictures and she wasn’t with me on this trip.  You can visit the River Walk website for more details.  Along the River Walk you can find hotels, shops, restaurants, and a mall – at least in the areas I checked out.

I wish I had more time on my trip to explore the River Walk.  I’m thinking of going back with my wife to spend a little more time strolling along the water.  I think this would make a great weekend trip for two.