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canyonwalker) wrote2023-05-29 04:02 pm
canyonwalker) wrote2023-05-29 04:02 pm
Entry tags:
Riverwalk to the Pearl
San Antonio Travelog #5
The Pearl - Sun, 28 May 2023, 6pm
After visiting the Alamo this morning we were ready for lunch. Again we ate Tex-Mex food, this time at a promising looking restaurant next to our hotel. Again like yesterday, it was good. And again like yesterday it left us feeling so full, overstuffed really, even though we thought we ate normal sized portions. We returned to our room next door at the Holiday Inn to rest a bit. But soon we were ready for another walk. This time we'd head north along the Riverwalk, the opposite of the direction we've gone on multiple forays so far, with a few detours up into the city.
Walking north from our hotel exposed us to a different side of the Riverwalk. Just steps to the south of our hotel is the loop, the main part of the Riverwalk in the tourist sense. It's line with hotels, restaurants, bars, and shops. It's like the New Orleans Bourbon Street of Texas, with raucous revelry in the evening.
To the north the Riverwalk is much quieter. There are only a few hotels along the river here, and also only a few noisy restaurants. The Riverwalk cuts through some underdeveloped sections of town. While there's occasional blight above at street level, down at water's edge it's just nature. And the occasional art installation, like that bower of concrete trees.
We followed the Riverwalk almost 2 miles north to an area called the Pearl. It's an old-is-new development where a repurposed old industrial area, centered around the San Antonio Brewers Association (the large brick building in the photo above), is joined by retro apartment blocks built around a number of restaurants and a small astroturfed park. Although we felt demographically slightly out of place, being older than the 20- and 30-something age range that dominated this 21st Century yuppie-hipster development, we enjoyed the break from the "And here's where they serve a 13-shot margarita!" banal debauchery of the downtown Riverwalk area.
We would've enjoyed a casual dinner out on the green at the Pearl except we were still stuffed from lunch. I did have room to drink a beer while we walked, and then both Hawk and I bought ice cream before we turned to head home. With covering about 5 miles on this trip, plus the walking earlier today to, around, and from the Alamo, we'll have enough exercise to burn off at least some of the calories.
The Pearl - Sun, 28 May 2023, 6pm
After visiting the Alamo this morning we were ready for lunch. Again we ate Tex-Mex food, this time at a promising looking restaurant next to our hotel. Again like yesterday, it was good. And again like yesterday it left us feeling so full, overstuffed really, even though we thought we ate normal sized portions. We returned to our room next door at the Holiday Inn to rest a bit. But soon we were ready for another walk. This time we'd head north along the Riverwalk, the opposite of the direction we've gone on multiple forays so far, with a few detours up into the city.
Walking north from our hotel exposed us to a different side of the Riverwalk. Just steps to the south of our hotel is the loop, the main part of the Riverwalk in the tourist sense. It's line with hotels, restaurants, bars, and shops. It's like the New Orleans Bourbon Street of Texas, with raucous revelry in the evening.
To the north the Riverwalk is much quieter. There are only a few hotels along the river here, and also only a few noisy restaurants. The Riverwalk cuts through some underdeveloped sections of town. While there's occasional blight above at street level, down at water's edge it's just nature. And the occasional art installation, like that bower of concrete trees.
We followed the Riverwalk almost 2 miles north to an area called the Pearl. It's an old-is-new development where a repurposed old industrial area, centered around the San Antonio Brewers Association (the large brick building in the photo above), is joined by retro apartment blocks built around a number of restaurants and a small astroturfed park. Although we felt demographically slightly out of place, being older than the 20- and 30-something age range that dominated this 21st Century yuppie-hipster development, we enjoyed the break from the "And here's where they serve a 13-shot margarita!" banal debauchery of the downtown Riverwalk area.
We would've enjoyed a casual dinner out on the green at the Pearl except we were still stuffed from lunch. I did have room to drink a beer while we walked, and then both Hawk and I bought ice cream before we turned to head home. With covering about 5 miles on this trip, plus the walking earlier today to, around, and from the Alamo, we'll have enough exercise to burn off at least some of the calories.