I recently visited San Antonio, TX for a world conference that I attended. Though I didn't get to explore anywhere outside of the downtown area, I did visit The Alamo , River Walk, and the Tower of the Americas (known to the locals as "Space Needle" in apparent recognition that it was built to compete with Seattle's Space Needle).San Antonio appears to have a lot to offer both visitors and residents. The downtown area is large, with a lot of restaurants and places of interest.
There's a saying that everything is bigger in Texas. However, The Alamo seems a bit smaller than expected. The history around this monument is told throughout the associated park. It's worth a visit, but don't expect to be wowwed.
The Tower of the Americas is beefy and tall. The problem with it is that there's just not much to see from the top. In every direction is the city of San Antonio, the good and the ugly. The Seattle Space Needle has a much better view since Seattle has a more interesting skyline, greener city, and beautiful coastline.
The River Walk is a glorified shopping mall. It is a good place to visit, but perhaps too touristy for the locals to hang out. I enjoyed the water tour and walking around.
The week I spent in San Antonio had similar weather to Silicon Valley over the same period. However, a week before there was a terrible storm, and a couple weeks after there was a snow storm. We barely get rain in Silicon Valley, and it never snows.
I guess my trip to San Antonio, TX taught me that there isn't nothing terribly bad about it, nor is there anything very compelling. It's a good place to live and visit.
No locals call the Tower of the Americas "Space Needle." Not sure where you got that from.
ReplyDeleteLocals love the Riverwalk. In fact, it has been voted the #1 hangout for locals.
San Antonio is a very historical, romantic and friendly city.
I figured that I'd get a rebuttal to some of my statements. The claim about "space needle" came from a volunteer docent at The Alamo, who had no reason to lie...since the only people that would care about misinformation are other locals. Tourists carrying bad info home with them is bad for San Antonio. The tourist with the bad info isn't annoyed or harmed by this. In other words, if a local is lying about this, take it up with them. I'm just repeating what I've been told.
ReplyDeleteSan Antonio may be friendly, but there are just as many beggers in the downtown area as one might expect in San Francisco. That was very annoying.