Howdy and welcome back as we finish out our Rio San Antonio boat cruise on the Riverwalk. The is the Westin Riverwalk and while it is one of the newer hotels on the Riverwalk it blends right in because the historical society provides guidelines that new construction must adhere to, in order to maintain the ambiance of the river. This hotel has a pool on a third floor balcony that looks out over the river, you are able to see the edge of the balcony jutting out just pass the trees lite in gold.
As we cruise along the river you can see the Bexar County Courthouse, it is the largest and oldest continuously operated historic courthouse in Texas. Made of native Texan granite and red sandstone, it is of the Romanesque Revival style.
Mixing the old with the new, throughout several places in San Antonio, there are various reminders of the history of San Antonio, I liked the way this bust was lite by the new LED river lights.
I had never noticed this tunnel before but I enjoyed how vibrantly the red tile was reflecting the light. The floor must be red tile as well because I noticed that it appears that the woman is floating.
Much of the Riverwalk was built during the work projects and there are still many places where you can see the prevalent Deco styling of that era.
The big tree in the forefront of the picture that is lite in green is the oldest tree on the Riverwalk, the light around it was actually changing colors but I happened to catch it while it was green.
As I was leaving the Riverwalk I turned to take a picture from one of the stairwells, to give you a sense of what it is like to ascend or descend to the river; although there are many people it is easy to stand or sit and take in the beauty of the river.
This last shot was taken from one of the street level bridges, living here it is easy to forget how incredible some of these views are and looking at this makes me grateful to live in a city that cares so much about aesthetic value.
I hope you enjoyed our holiday cruise as much as I did and soon I hope to post more shots of some of our beautiful city.
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Riverwalk at Christmas III
Riverwalk at Christmas II
Welcome back to our boat tour of the San Antonio Riverwalk. Christmas is always one of my favorite times of year because I like all things sparkly and shiny, so I loved the way the Riverwalk looked and as a San Antonio native it is always awesome to hear the “OOO”‘s and “Ah”‘s of the tourists visiting our beautiful city. The Riverwalk while always alluring is simply magical during it’s Christmas transformation.
Coming underneath yet another bridge we can see the restaurant Casa Rio, while I have not had dinner there it has long been a resident of the Riverwalk and what a gorgeous view to have while you are eating; needless to say I have added dinner there during the next holiday season to my to-do list.
Here we are approaching the bend before the Arneson River Theater which can also be entered from historic La Villita.
This picture gives you a sense of how many trees they have put lights on, there are some turns on the River where it looks like a lite forest.
In some ways it reminds of a the Sugarplum Fairies as I think they would probably live in a place that looked magical like this.
The Tower Life building which opened in 1929 is both a landmark and historic building in Downtown San Antonio, it can be seen from many places in the city and is the only San Antonio building to boast gargoyles on the corners of its sides which makes it a favorite of mine.
Here we are almost upon one of the street level bridges, I am always in awe of how tall the trees are above street level.
As we pass under the Navarro Street bridge one can see the height of these trees, while they are rooted on the walkways of the Riverwalk these giants climb high enough into the air that their beauty can be appreciated even while driving or walking through downtown San Antonio.
On Friday I will post the final shots from this journey, I hope that you will join me one last time on this holiday cruise.
Riverwalk at Christmas I
It has been quite a while since my last post and this post comes late, these pictures were taken at Christmastime and the reason it has taken me so long to post them is that I have returned to school and have been swamped with homework. However, over the course of Spring Break I took the time to edit these pictures so that I could post them. I hope you enjoy the magical beauty of the San Antonio Riverwalk during the holiday season; on our Rio San Antonio Cruise.
We began by the bridge that many tourists ask about, if they’ve seen the Selena movie; this is the one that Jennifer Lopez sat on and was kissed by the actor who was playing Chris Perez.
There are actually a few of these bridges on the Riverwalk and this is the second one we passed. This is the first year that the city converted to LED lights and while I do miss the old lights, the reflections that the new lights cast on the water are amazing.
One of the great things about the Riverwalk is that there is no shortage of eating establishments, they have something for everyone’s palate and you can enjoy the beauty of the season while sitting riverside while you dine.
The building on the left is the Hilton Palacio del Rio, it was built for the Hemisphere World’s Fair in 1968 and is a modular building; meaning that each room was built and furnished independently and they were all helicoptered into form the building.
The Marriott Riverwalk although a much newer building is just as impressive as it looms over the River and can be seen from several vantage point.
This mosaic has been a part of the Riverwalk longer than I have been alive but has been named for Lila Cockrell, one of the city’s longest standing and most beloved Mayors.
Most of the trees that are lite and line the river are Bald Cyprus and they are huge, climbing incredibly high into the air.
The last picture of this post is of the Marriott again, I loved they way the lite the outside of the building creating blocks of color.
Join me again later this week for more shots of our Winter Wonderland.
Lahaina Laura 