The Alamo - San Antonio Tx

One of the places that is so famous in San Antonio is the Alamo.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alamo  It's a national historic landmark and is the most popular place to visit in Texas.

The Alamo, San Antonio TX

 The Alamo started out as a mission- a place where people could go for protection and because of that there were walls that surrounded it. 

The backside of the Alamo so you can see how it was a fort really.

backside of the Alamo

 When the battle did occur most of the fighting took place in the church and because of that its been kept as a shrine. Because it is regarded as a shrine no photo's were allowed to be taken in the building. Plus they did have some display cases with artifacts and such but due to the age of things & copy write laws you were able to just look at them.
      This is what the front entrance looked like.  I thought it was so pretty.

 Since it was a mission it was a compound of buildings.  After you exited the church then you go across the path to this building which is where the gift shop was. I think this may have been the convent.  I thought this building was just as pretty as the other one.

 This is a more distant view of it where you can see more than one building and how it was a compound.

 There was a court yard with people strolling about it too.  One of the things that was getting a lot of attention was this pond.  When I looked in to see what they were gawking about - I could see why.  I was filled with these huge carp just swimming around.  A swirl of different colors. 

 But as soon as you walk away from it you realize you are in a desert area.  Nothing brings that home more than seeing these cactus.

 But there was other vegetation there was lovely to look at too.

 I really liked these yellow flowers.  I don't know what they are because they were big and the bush was more like a tree.

 This was in an area that was a meditative place. The water was gurgling here and a squirrel did come for a drink. 

 Here's another building that was there but not open to the public. It did give you a feel of how it probably looked like when it was being used as a fort.

 One of the things that got people talking was this Live Oak and how it was resting on the lawn.  I'm used to seeing trees do this in the area of which I live so this wasn't so unusual to me. What was unusual to me was the way everyone was calling it Live Oak.

 I always thought of that as just like a generic term.  I never realized that actually is the name for that oak tree.  They had this sign on this tree.

 And this sign about it.  

 Some more structures in the compound.

 I thought this was

 This isn't within the Alamo walls but outside it in its plaza. Its a Cenotaph (empty tomb) tribute to the people (Texians & Tejanos)  who fought for Texas before it was Texas.  It was designed by Pompeo Coppini

Pompeo Coppini's Alamo Cenotaph, San Antonio TX

Pompeo Coppini's Alamo Cenotaph, San Antonio TX

Pompeo Coppini's Alamo Cenotaph, San Antonio TX

Pompeo Coppini's Alamo Cenotaph, San Antonio TX

The Alamo was just one of the missions that were spaced a day's walk apart.  There are 4 others in the area and I will be blogging about some of them later.