Mission Espada, San Antonio TX

The last mission we saw on the trail of missions was Mission Espada.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Espada

Mission Espada, San Antonio TX

Of the mission we saw I think I liked this entrance the best. 

As with the other missions they had a diagram of the place so you could get a sense of how it was when it was a working compound and safe haven place during the 1700's.

Like Mission San Juan this one was not in as good of shape as Mission San Jose. But it was still interesting to see.

With the walls partially down this one gave you a better feel for how small the rooms were and how they were spaced out.

I liked this Romanesque arch.  It was distinctive and different from the other places.

The mission is in the National Park system and as such they have Park rangers on duty there and this was the building where they were located.

Remnants of buildings that once were there.

The one thing I noticed about this place was that in places the wall was just the protective wall and it did not have buildings connected to it in which the natives would live.

Here is the church.  I was disappointed that there was a parking lot there near the building and that a truck was parked there.  It was hard getting a shot without the truck in it.  There was just something about seeing a truck there that made it feel like it was so out of place. 

These were more remnants of the wall.  I took this one because you could tell that the walls used to have plaster on them and at one point they were painted green.

You could see this trail that lead down to the San Antonio River.  It looked like it was still being used today to get to the river.  The river at this point is pretty shallow and is not a very big river. 

As I was looking at the trail I noticed these busy, busy ants all marching in file going back and forth down to the river. 

Finally I was able to get closer to the church area and I did get this one and was pleased with it.

Mission Espada, San Antonio TX

And also this one.  As we were walking around we found out that the red tile roof area was an actual convent where people were still living there.  Then that made sense to me why there was a truck where there was in the parking lot.

The side view of it.

This is what it looked like from the back.

And how it looked inside.  I was pleased that they let you go in and could see it.

This is the area where people still live.  I didn't realize it until you got to the one sign. Then I felt a little guilty for intruding upon their living area.  Because of that we didn't stay long.

Here's the parting view of the compound.

This was the last one we saw.