"San Antonio and its Spanish Missions!" San Antonio by Ewingjr98

San Antonio Travel Guide: 1,361 reviews and 3,151 photos

The San Antonio skyline...old & new - San Antonio

The Riverwalk ...where's Mickey Mouse?

I made my first short visits to San Antonio in 1996 and 1997, but I just returned recently to actually spend some time downtown.

San Antonio is a huge, sprawling city with well over one million inhabitants. It is really a unique mix of old and new, rich and poor, Hispanic and English. To me, there are two San Antonios: the Riverwalk area (what I jokingly referred to as "the ditch" or "the underground") and the surface (maybe "the real world").

The Riverwalk area is a marvel of modern city revitalization. This is probably one of the most densely packed shopping, eating, and sleeping areas in America if not the world. The river is calm and cool, the trees tall and green. To me, it looked just like Disney World, except I never saw Mickey. This is the safe haven in the "dangerous" city for the white upper middle-class tourists and business people.

The surface area is where the true culture and history emerge. Here you will find authentic local food at reasonable prices, historic buildings, and many of the poorer locals that don't often venture into the Riverwalk.

The Spanish Missions

Perhaps this is the only city in America where the mainstream, upper class keeps to the underground while the poor, downtrodden blue collar workers look down upon them in scorn from the city streets.

I made another trip through San Antonio in August 2006 while traveling with my dad between Houston and El Paso on our way to California.

Last visit to San Antonio: Aug 2006
Intro Updated Jan 29, 2007
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Reviews (38)

O Henry House Off The Beaten Path (2)

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Comments (3)

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RayHolst Nov 30, 2008 at 2:52 PM

What doyoumeanthe Tower of The America is ugly.Were you there for HemisFair in 68 as I was.To me it is a very special place.I just wish it could be used again for another fair.
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SteveOSF Apr 28, 2008 at 5:37 PM

Excellent page on San Antonio. Great tips on the historic buildings. Also some nice photography.
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atufft Mar 23, 2007 at 11:31 PM

Nice pages for San Antonio. We didn't see ANY of the Missions, but wish we had. Also, sorry I didn't stop by O Henry's house. I saw Riverwalk the same...