My mother-in-law-to-be, Lisa Peters, was celebrating her 35 year High School Reunion in San Antonio, Texas. At the last minute she invited RC, Piper and I to tag along.
True to Lisa's nickname "Contessa", she booked a suite at The Hotel Contessa. We joked about that one...it couldn't have been more perfect.
The Hotel Contessa is a beautiful place to stay, situated right along the River Walk in Downtown San Antonio. And the River Walk is something that you should definitely experience. It's reminiscent of Venice, boats humming along a water way - docking at hotels, restaurants, shopping centers. It runs through out most of downtown and is a completely valid form of transportation, in fact taxi boats are available at a moments notice. The hotel itself is a luxury hotel. We stayed in the Parlor suite. Highly recommended, with it's fantastic decor, exposed brick walls and the view was perfect.
First thing we did was eat...of course! The restaurant that was chosen was about 15 minutes away, a great Mexican restaurant called La Fonda. The food was excellent and so was the service, and the queso...YUM!
Then my friend showed up, thank you Jenni!! And we had a grown ups night out at the hotel bar. It was SO needed...
The next day we spent walking around, in 100+ degree weather.
First we went to La Villiata, a small Hispanic inspired artist village. I was sad to see how empty it was on a Saturday afternoon. But I did find a great gem, The Village Weavers which
carried a collection of internationally woven clothes,purses, hats, art, blankets, toys, etc. I picked up a beautiful smock dress for Piper and a straw hat - both handmade in Guatemala.
After stopping for ice cream at Bolivar Cafe, we continued on through Hemisfair Park, with it's surprisingly artistic waterfall displays and headed to the Tower of the Americas, which stands 750 feet above the city. After paying an entrance fee, going up a never ending elevator - we made it to the top. I'll be honest, it's not well maintained and it's even a bit confusing to navigate - but the view at the top - made it all worth it.
After that experience, we headed towards The Alamo, got detoured by the local mall that was mid-way as we had to cool down, get something to drink. It was air conditioned and so we decided to stay for lunch. By the time we were done, all we wanted to was go back to the hotel. So, we never made it to the Alamo, but...all in all, it was a great experience.
I loved the River Walk and the little shops and places to eat. I will say though that it's very congested traffic wise, over populated for sure with several naval bases nearby and the weekend/family traffic is worse than some LA cities and lastly, it is quite dirty. But there's things to love about it too. So, I am sure I'll be
heading back to the River Walk...Love, Kristina
Photographs taken by the talented RC Peters, thank you love!
This is gorgeous!
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