San Antonio Riverwalk

We've been staying here in Castroville, in the outskirts of San Antonio, for a week now and it was about time we explored downtown San Antonio. We did a drive-by the other day but now we want to stop and walk around a bit, find parking areas, and so on. We are actually planning several trips so today was a bit of a reconnaissance mission. Basically I wanted to get into the city, look around, and get out :-)

After getting the truck parked at the parking garage at the corner of W Nueva and S Flores, we opted to explore the Riverwalk. We've heard so much about the Riverwalk from so many people, we were anxious to see it up close. And we weren't disappointed! It's beautiful! The brick and stone walking path; the greenery and shrubs; the bridges; the restaurants and bars; the boat tours; and more!

Historic Castroville, Texas

Today, we decided to explore our little community of Castroville, Texas. 
This area was settled in the 1840s, back when Texas was making a real effort to build up it's population. Henri Castro from the Alsace region of France was given a land grant in exchange for taking responsibility for setting up new colony here just outside San Antonio. 
If you're like us, you would have never heard of Alsace before. It seems Alsace is a region within France that sits alongside the border with Germany. Interestingly, Alsatians actually speak German and not French. The German influence here is obvious - in the architecture, in the cuisine and in the inhabitants. 
Getting back to our history lesson: dozens of families from Alsace were brought by ship to populate his land grant here on the banks of the Medina River. After struggling for a short time, the population began to flourish. In fact, the community became so self contained, so isolated, that for generations the people here still spoke in the same dialect as when they first colonized the area decades before.
Sixty heritage buildings dating back to the 1800s still stand in Castroville. We spent several hours earlier today walking through the historic neighbourhood, mesmerized by these beautiful old buildings.

Yummy Tex-Mex!

We had some real Tex-Mex cuisine today from the Andrea's Mexican Restaurant just down the street! And it's so good!

Quick visit to Downtown San Antonio

Another rainy day, so not much happening today. In the weeks to come, we plan on checking out the 'Parade of Lanterns' on the San Antonio River so we thought we'd scope out downtown San Antonio. We found some on-street parking and public parking lots. We found the Mexican market and where to view the parade. Mission accomplished

Latest video is up on YouTube! MCTS Season 2 Episode 7

I just uploaded another lackluster video...in this episode we are discovering unusual roadside attractions on Galveston Island in Texas!

Drive through the Country

Since arriving in the San Antonio area, we've been dealing with rainy and dreary weather so we haven't done much.
So today, after being cooped in the trailer, we went for a drive through Texas' famous 'Hill Country'. Hill Country is a scenic region northwest of San Antonio with lots of pastures, fields of cactus and as the name suggests, sporadic hills and valleys.

We drove a big loop and about halfway around the loop we stumbled across an awesome little town called Bandera. It's the coolest place...it's very reminiscent of an old fashioned western movie setting. Old saloons, old hardware stores, people riding horses through the streets! Coolest place ever! The culture here is actually a blend of Indian, Mexican and Polish, giving it a unique ambiance.

Back in the early 1700s, many bloody battles between the Comanche and the Spanish took place in Bandera Pass just a few miles outside of current day Bandera. Legend has it that a bandera (Spanish for flag) was flown at the Pass to mark the boundary between Spanish and Indian territory.

These days, Bandera has became known as the cowboy capital of the world! For a couple of reasons actually: Firstly, the Bandera area was the site of the final big cattle drives of the late 1800s. Not only that but a vast majority of national rodeo champions call Bandera home! A bronze figure in the park downtown was erected to recognize the town's history. Pretty cool or what!