San Antonio River Walk
The San Antonio River Walk is a public park and a unique pedestrian path in San Antonio, Texas, located one level below the main roadway. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops, connecting the city’s major tourist attractions from the Shops at Rivercenter to the Arneson River Theatre, to Marriage Island, to La Villita, to HemisFair Park, to the Tower Life Building, to the San Antonio Museum of Art, to the Pearl, and the city’s five Spanish colonial missions, which have been designated as a National Historic Landmark. The River Parade, which takes place during the annual Fiesta San Antonio in the spring, contains flowery floats that float down the river.
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The Alamo
The Alamo Mission, also known as the Misión San Antonio de Valero, is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United States, constructed in the 18th century by Roman Catholic missionaries. The Battle of the Alamo took place here in 1836. It is now a museum in the Alamo Plaza Historic District and a World Heritage Site of the San Antonio Missions.
The historic district was one of Texas’s first Spanish missions, designed to educate indigenous American Indians following their conversion to Christianity. In 1793, the mission was secularized and ultimately abandoned. It became a fortress ten years later, housing the Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras military unit, which is thought to have given the mission the name Alamo. Following the Siege of Béxar during the Texas Revolution, Mexican General Martn Perfecto de Cos surrendered the fort to the Texas Army in December 1835. The compound was later occupied for several months by a relatively modest group of Texian soldiers. On March 6, 1836, the defenders were wiped out at the Battle of the Alamo.
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Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Six Flags Over Georgia Fiesta Texas is a theme park in La Cantera, San Antonio, Texas. It was previously known as just Fiesta Texas. Six Flags owns and operates the park. Gaylord Entertainment Company created the park, which debuted on March 14, 1992, as the first enterprise in the San Antonio region. Six Flags bought the park in 1996 and turned it into a theme park.
The park, which spans 200 acres, was designed to be a destination performance arts park with a focus on the musical culture of Texas.
Scream, the park’s current icon, can be viewed from all throughout the park as well as from the street. Scream’s brilliant colors may also be seen miles away from Six Flags Fiesta Texas, at the crossroads of Loop 1604 and Interstate 10. Because the park is encircled by a rock quarry wall, most of the other attractions are hidden, however the SkyScreamer, the Crow’s Nest Ferris wheel in Fiesta Bay Boardwalk, the lift hill of Superman: Krypton Coaster, and the lift hill of Iron Rattler are all visible.
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San Antonio Missions National Historical Park
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park is a National Historical Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in San Antonio, Texas, that preserves four of the five Spanish frontier missions. Catholic religious groups created these outposts to propagate Christianity among the locals. During the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, these missions were part of a colonial system that spanned the Spanish Southwest.
Mission Concepción, Mission San Jose, Mission San Juan, and Mission Espada are the missions in sequence from north to south. The Espada Aqueduct, which is also part of the Park, is located across the river from Mission San Juan.
The Alamo, San Antonio’s fifth mission, is not included in the Park. It is owned by the State of Texas and is located upstream from Mission Concepción in downtown San Antonio. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas managed the Alamo until July 2015, when it was handed over to the Texas General Land Office.
The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, together with San Antonio’s Alamo Mission, was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 5, 2015.
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SeaWorld San Antonio
SeaWorld San Antonio is a 250-acre marine mammal park, oceanarium, and animal theme park located on the city’s west side in the Westover Hills District. It is the largest of SeaWorld Entertainment’s three parks, and one of the world’s largest marine-life theme parks dedicated to conservation, education, and animal rescue. SeaWorld parks can also be found in San Diego, California, and Orlando, Florida. It is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and is a member of the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums.
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San Antonio Zoo
The San Antonio Zoo is a zoo in Midtown San Antonio, Texas, that is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. It’s in Brackenridge Park, which is part of the city. The 35-acre zoo houses approximately 3,500 animals from 750 different species. The zoo attracts over a million visitors each year. It also operates non-animal attractions such as the San Antonio Zoo Eagle train ride, which started in 1956 and uses three Chance Rides C.P. Huntington engines.
In 1948, the Richard Friedrich Aquarium opened its doors. Until SeaWorld San Antonio opened in 1988, it was the city’s only aquarium.
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Natural Bridge Caverns
The Natural Bridge Caves are the world’s largest commercial caverns, located in Texas, United States. The name comes from the 60-foot natural limestone slab bridge that spans the cavern’s entrance amphitheater. When a sinkhole under it collapsed, the span was left dangling.
The caves are located in the Texas Hill Country outside San Antonio, Texas, near the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, a drive-through wildlife safari attraction. Several unique speleothems and other geological formations can be found in the caverns. The cave is kept at a constant temperature of 21 degrees Celsius and a humidity level of 99 percent all year. Although unexplored portions of the cavern reach depths of 230 feet, the deepest section of the public tour is 180 feet below the surface.
The caverns are still being formed. Rainwater moves downhill through the layers of rock due to the porosity of the limestone, where it dissolves calcite, a weak mineral that makes up all of the speleothems at Natural Bridge Caverns.
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Tower of the Americas
750-ft. tower with a revolving eatery
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San Antonio Museum of Art
The San Antonio Museum of Art is a museum located in the heart of San Antonio, Texas. SAMA is the only encyclopedic museum of great art in South Texas, with a collection covering 5,000 years of worldwide culture. The Museum is located on the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River Walk, in the historic former Lone Star Brewery. It reopened to the public in March 1981 after a $7.2 million makeover.
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