Today we explored San Antonio. Our main reason for visiting was to see the
Alamo but then we were made aware of the San Antonio Missions National
Historical Park which consists of five missions along the length of the San
Antonio river that are connected by hike and bike paths. Time for another bike ride! These are five of the six Missions
established here in the 1700s by Franciscan Missionaries. We headed to Mission San Jose first, which
was considered the strongest and most beautiful of the missions.
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| The chapel inside Mission San Jose |
The outer walls are still present having been
restored The missions were set up with
the aim of spreading Catholicism and the rule of Spain to the native
people. The government of Spain
supported the missions with money and military protection. So, basically the Spanish empire were in
control of a large swathe of the land in the South and wanted to control and
befriend the native population. Better
than slaughtering them I suppose!
Instead of cycling at least seven miles from there to the
Alamo we drove on to the next mission in the right direction, Mission
Concepcion, which had a beautiful chapel.
These churches are still active places of worship.
We found parking nearby, right by the river and set off
towards the City centre and the Alamo.
The cycle paths are kept in very clean and smooth condition so it was a
lovely safe way to cycle into San Antonio whilst spotting waterfowl on the way! As we neared downtown, bars and restaurants
started appearing by the river walk, so we knew we were getting close! In the centre we were briefly distracted by a
PETA stand offering a virtual reality experience to follow a wild Orca as they
explained why SeaWorld is evil! No
trouble persuading us, but it was nice to go for a swim nonetheless before
signing a petition asking SeaWorld to release their imprisoned Whales and
dolphins before any more suffer or die prematurely.
We cycled up to the Alamo, originally named Mission San
Antonio de Valero, and left our bikes chained to some railings whilst we went
to explore.
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| The famous front view of the Alamo |
Following our confusing tour of the Texas State
Capitol building two days ago, I am happy to report a better understanding of
the Texas Revolution and the battle of the Alamo! In front of the church there is an engraved
version of a letter written by William B Travis who was the 26-year-old
commander at the time of the siege in 1836 (above). In it he pleads for help from all Americans
to come and reinforce their numbers as, due to a logistical oversight, the majority
of soldiers had been deployed to battles elsewhere, leaving less than 200 men
to defend the Mission. They were
surrounded by Mexican troops and outnumbered by more than ten to one. But Travis, the Texians and the Tejanos
(volunteer natives) refused to surrender their post as they believed that the
Alamo was the key to the defence of Texas. The siege lasted for thirteen days,
all the while the Mexican army increasing in size, until on March 6th
1836 the Mexicans made their final assault and within 90 minutes all the
defending troops were slain, as depicted in the dramatic painting below:
We heard a presentation from a member of staff who explained that
witness accounts from those that survived are the only way we know what
happened that day. The only survivors were
women, children and Travis’s friend who’d laid down his arms as soon as
Travis had been killed. It was interesting to hear how multi-national the
revolutionaries who fought in the Alamo were.
There had been massive immigration into Texas due to land being offered
for a pittance or in exchange for 6 months service in the army. Many from all over the world had travelled to
the area to make a new life and came together at this time to fight for their
independence from the tyrannous Mexican regime.
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| This cannon was there on the walls during the battle of the Alamo, but was made in Scotland in the 1790s |
Despite this Mexican victory, the Texian army took their
revenge for the Alamo and other atrocities at the hands of Santa Anna’s troops
only a month later, when they defeated them at the battle of San Jacinto. The battle was over in only 18 minutes with
the Texian army chanting ‘remember the Alamo’ as they attacked. Santa Anna was captured and the independence
of Texas was won. Texas existed as a
republic at first until it became the 28th State of the Union in
1845. Today they state that the Alamo
exists as a symbol of patriotism, of a heroic struggle against overwhelming
odds and a shrine to Texas liberty where men made the ultimate sacrifice for
freedom. The names of the Alamo heroes
are engraved inside the church where no photography is allowed as a mark of
respect. We walked the grounds and the museum containing artefacts from the 1800s. It was strange to see such an iconic and
historical building nestled in the centre of modern downtown San Antonio.
We were tempted into a riverside Mexican restaurant for a
late lunch/early dinner at Casa Rio. Sadly the food
was mediocre but I guess it was all about the location?!
The cycle back to the RV was much more
relaxed after a jug of sangria and we made it back in perfect time before the
light began to fade. We had cycled roughly 13km in total and
learned a lot more about American history as we went.
The evening was spent with normal activities – blogging –
but also new hobbies, such as watching ‘Hunted’ and pointing out all the stupid
mistakes made by people who are trying to be fugitives, and using ‘Duo Lingo’
to increase the pace of our Spanish learning. (Listening to a CD to learn Spanish whilst driving along has ground to a
halt so we needed another method.)
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