San Antonio, Days 5 & 6

Our adventure continues.  On Friday, we drove from Galveston to San Antonio, arriving at the start of the "Day of the Dead" festivals/celebrations/remembrances.  We checked into our hotel -- Hotel Contessa, situated adjacent to the "famous' Riverwalk.  The hotel is modern, high rise building, with an open interior atrium.  The elevators go to the lobby level then descend one more level to "R," not a basement but the river level.  The bar and the upscale restaurant are on this lower level.  Obviously, one can pass directly out onto the Riverwalk path, but not on Friday.  Most of the Riverwalk was closed for the Dia de los Muertos fiesta, which is a huge event for San Antonio.  A tiny "wedding island" just at the river's edge -- a place for many weddings (there were at least 3 on Saturday).  The hotel is owned by the Dubai Hotel Group -- I found this out because that was the merchant that charged the credit card.  

Our car was whisked away to valet parking.  Then we ambled about the inner city to get our bearings and to decompress from the driving.  We ended up in recovery on a chic 20th floor  hotel bar with views east and west over the flat countryside.  We treated ourselves to fancy cocktails plus a shared plate of burrata and prosciutto.  

Hotel Contessa on the Riverwalk.

Our "recovery" bar.

The view from 20th floor.

Our hotel atrium looking down.

Day of the Dead Info.

After our recovery, we ambled back toward the hotel mostly along the Riverwalk, until we got close to the central area, which was closed to the public for a special parade of fiesta boats.  Only patrons who had bought tickets could go onto the Riverwalk, where chairs were set up for viewing the parade.  We got as far as the assembly area for all 26 boats (small motor-driven barges, some with waist-high fencing - these are used as tourists boats the rest of the time).  We were fortunate to see the boats lit up with their brightly costumed passengers, and watched as they were directed to leave the 'starting gate."  Betsy's favorite boat had an Aztec/Mayan theme.

We retired to the hotel and order room service for a light dinner.

On Saturday, we arose, walked out for breakfast to get to our free, timed-entry ticket to the Alamo.  We ate at Menger Hotel, a classic historic establishment that is the oldest inn west of the Mississippi River in continual use.  We entered the Alamo at our assigned time to 10 am for a self-guided visit. We wandered around the very old, and crumbling limestone church for a few minutes.  There was not much to see.  We exited into the grounds which has a museum, a gift shop, gardens, and the Long Barracks.  We hung out to view a rifle and musket demonstration, learning about their differences and the strategy involved in each weapon.  Simply put, rifles have grooves inside the barrel that causes the bullet to spin and improves accuracy but are slow to reload; muskets don't have such rifling and rely on multiple, simultaneous firing to hit the opposing forces and are faster to reload.  The speed of reloading usually is the factor separating the winners and losers.  We watched some re-enactors load and fire both a rifle and 4 muskets.  

Inside the Alamo Church.

The backside of the Alamo Church.

Musket demo.

A garden discovery - note the anole.

The front of the Alamo Church.

Back on the Riverwalk.

We then visited to the San Fernando Cathedral, built in 1730s.

A wedding was going on while we were there,

And where the heroes of the Alamo lie.

We returned toward the hotel but decided to stop in at the Briscoe Western Art Museum.  The sculpture garden was not open (closed for a wedding reception setup) but the main exhibit halls were open.  We had a nice visit and I have included a few photos of the collection.

A diorama of the Battle of the Alamo (the church is in the upper right).

A statue that looks as if it leather, but is actually bronze.

Other than the sky, this is a painting of single colors.

A Wells Fargo Stagecoach.

The detail in this painting makes it look like a photograph.

Before leaving the museum, we attended a special demonstration on paper cutting, or "papel picador".  A woman who got interested in and later became obsessed with this craft was hosting and showing off some of her projects.  It then turned into a participatory activity for the audience.  We each got some scissors and instructed on how to make a variety of delicate cuts on paper or tissue paper to make masks or flags, etc.  We weren't particularly skilled but we had fun.

We went back to the hotel to rest for a bit, followed by another short walk to the main city park where tons of people were participating in the Dia de los Muertos festival.  The fiesta revolved around colorful altars (or ofrendras) set up to honor people who had died and were being remembered.   The altars usually have 3 layers or tiers representing the land of the dead, the land of the living, and the land of saints (or heaven).  The builders add candles to represent each loved one; water to quench their thirst after the long journey; pan de muerto - the bread of the dead - to feed them; orange or yellow marigold flowers to help them find their way back to the living; and papel picador - the colorful cut paper decorations -  which symbolize the wind.  Many of the altars were sincere remembrances of friends, families or heroes, but a number were whimsical.  There were also food and drinks stalls, and loud music.  The festival was very much a family event, with attendants working hard to keep the site tidy and civil.  Many of the crowd were costumed in Day of the Dead outfits - flowery headdresses and flowing dresses for women and skeleton garb for the men, so it was very colorful.

I liked the skeleton on the right wearing a "Dad" shirt and slippers.

Lots of people....

Remembrance to the actress/entertainer Betty White

Tower of the Americas.

And then we went for dinner at a barbecue restaurant along the Riverwalk.  Our table was right next to the water, so we could watch both tour boats cruising by and tourists ambling along.

Mango, Prickly Pear, and Strawberry 'Ritas'

We went back briefly to the hotel, then returned to the San Fernando Cathedral for a laser light show - San Antonio Saga.  It was a history of the city in 24 minutes provided by light patterns projected on the cathedral's front surface and accompanied by music.