More About San Antonio
San Antonio, the eighth largest city in the US retains an unhurried, organic feel, thanks to a winning combination of small town warmth, respect for diversity and self-confidence rooted in its own history. After the Civil War, it became a hard-drinking, hard-fighting "sin city," at the heart of the Texas cattle and oil empires.
The city looks nothing like the stereotypical image of Texas - despite being pivotal in the state's history. Standing at a geographical crossroads, it encapsulates the complex social and ethnic mixes of all Texas. Although the Germans, among others, have made a strong contribution to its architecture, cuisine and music, today's San Antonio is predominantly Hispanic: abundant Tex-Mex restaurants, the prevalent Catholicism, the newly expanded Mexican Cultural Institute and advertising billboards in Spanish all attest to a long history of "Texican" culture.
While the Alamo is the main attraction in the downtown area, the surreal Buckhorn Museum, takes a pleasingly kitsch look at Americana. The best of several museums in Hemis Fair Park is the Institute of Texan Cultures, which maps the social histories of 26 diverse "Texan" cultures. West of the river, the 1731 San Fernando Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in the US. Getting to the beautiful Mc Nay Art Museum is all worth it. This exquisite Moorish-style villa, complete with tranquil garden, was built in the 1950s to house the art collection of millionaire and folk artist Marion Koogler McNay, which includes modern sculpture, Gothic and medieval works, as well as a sprinkling of major players (Picasso, Monet and Van Gogh). The San Antonio Museum of Art, which occupies the old Lone Star Brewery, but it's the added Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art wing that holds most interest, with its particularly fine exhibit on folk art.
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