San Antonio was a nice surprise. It’s a surprisingly cool town. As we approached on a weekday evening we expected lots of traffic and delays like we had approaching New Orleans, a town less than half the size of San Antonio. But it was an easy trip into downtown. Then we worried we wouldn’t be able to find dinner as the restaurants we researched during the drive were all booked. But we told the lovely receptionist at the Hilton Canopy Riverwalk that we had a hankering for ceviche and she got us a reservation at the perfect spot. So far so good.
In the morning we walked to Riverwalk from Alamo plaza and then southwest for miles past all the shops and honky tonk into residential areas. We walked through the King Williams historic district filled with stately old houses built mostly in the latter half of the 19th century by German immigrants.
Steves Homestead in King William Historic District
We had lunch near the Blue Star Arts Complex on a sunny patio where Charlie was very patient and well attended to by the wait staff. We had a nice walk back, stopping at a few shops in La Villita Historic Arts Village where we bought colorful Mexican pottery, of course.
Mural at Blue Star Arts Complex
That evening we took the Riverwalk again to reach our dinner destination. At night the Riverwalk was an entirely different place. What had been a peaceful, picturesque park with ducks floating in the river, lined with charming shop windows, had turned into Disneyland, accompanied by trite Mexican music and filled with Margarita-toting tourists. A piece of America, I suppose.