Wanderlust UK – September 2019

wanderlust.co.uk September 2019 117

Digital-Mapping.co.uk; Shutterstock; Dreamstime

DURATION: 23 days

ROUTE: San Antonio

WHY GO? To experience

a bygone era of world history,

when the Spanish Crown

was making its ‡irst tentative

moves in the New World.

TRAVEL CONSIDERATIONS:

San Antonio and Austin have

major airports; consider renting

a car at either location and

combining both cities into

a one-week visit.

In the US, a site is in contention

for being classi‡ied as ‘historic’ at

50 years old, according to the

National Parks Service. Although

this is pretty recent by European

standards, it renders San

Antonio’s 300-year-old history

downright ancient.

One of the most historically

signi‡icant sites is the iconic

Alamo (founded in 1718) and

the four other mission churches

• recently named a collective
  UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  They represent a bygone era
  of Spanish colonialism, and
  a visit to San Antonio Missions
  National Historical Park takes
  you back to a time when the
  Spanish Crown was attempting
  to spread Catholicism to the
  indigenous Coahuiltecan people.
  The best-known mission – San
  Antonio de Valero, now called
  The Alamo – later gained fame as
  a fort that was attacked a century
  later during Texas’ 1836 War for
  Independence from Mexico. Its
  Texan defenders were vastly
  outnumbered and eventually

Spanish colonial San Antonio

Best for: UNESCO heritage, architecture & cycling

⊳

overrun, but their de‡iance has

become a symbol of resistance.

The other four missions –

Concepcion, Espada, San José

and San Juan – highlight diŽerent

aspects of 18th-century life in

San Antonio, from harvesting

crops to observing religious

rituals. Consider exploring

them by bike; these are available

for rent at each site.

Just a few miles away are other

vestiges of New Spain’s in‡luence

in the 1700s. The stately gothic-

revival San Fernando Cathedral

was founded by a group of 15

families from the Canary Islands

in 1731, and the adjacent 1749

Spanish Governor’s Palace

features dazzlingly white

stucco stone walls and a lush

tropical courtyard.

DID YOU KNOW?

In 1836, Texas broke away

from Mexico to become the

Republic of Texas. Its „lag

had just one star, so when

it joined the US nine years

later, its nickname as the

‘Lone Star State’ stuck.

Remember the Alamo!

The heroics of 1836 have

made The Alamo a symbol

of Texan individuality;

(top) the San Fernando

Cathedral lit up at night

AR

LA

OK

NM

TEXAS

MEXICO

KS