San Antonio, TX - River walk

Our family went on this vacation about two years ago and it is one of those experiences that stayed fresh in my mind. I don't know if we will go to Venice, Italy and sail the great canal in a gondola. But this vacation came close to that experience. :) The official "San Antonio Riverwalk" website describes this attraction as a "Public park open 365 days a year, lined with individual businesses composed of restaurants, hotels, attractions and more." And what a awesome public park it is!! This river and riverwalk in located one story below the downtown of San Antonio city. 

     During this vacation, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency by the banks of the San Antonio river. There are many hotels like this by the banks of the river and all of these hotels usually have an entry to the riverwalk path by the river from their lobby or ground floor. Our hotel had one too. On the ground level if you exit the hotel by the road side, you will see the regular downtown streets.But if you exit these building by the riverwalk entry, you will see the beautiful river lined on both sides with hotels and other business, with walkways on both sides also having bridges across the river in a few spots for walkers to walk across from one side of the river bank to the other. Furthermore, even in the street-level there are stairs and entry ways in certain areas of the sidewalks from where we can join the riverwalk. 

There are two ways to experience the riverwalk:

1. Taking a historical tourist boat ride through the river. It is a 35 minute narrated history boat tour of the San Antonio river walk.
2. Taking a narrated walking tour by the riverwalk paths.

Dinner cruise boats and private tours are also other ways to experience this riverwalk.

We did a narrated scenic boat ride of the river. And it gave us an experience similar to the gondola rides of the great canal in Italy. But in a smaller level. 

    Another wonderful sight to behold is seeing the riverwalk after dusk. With all the business and hotels having their lights and signs lit up. Also with the street lamps in the river walk lit up. The riverwalk looks so romantic and lit up like a fairy-land. 

Also, one should not miss going to the Rivercenter Mall in downtown San Antonio where the river passes through. With regards to shops and other attractions, this mall is like any other regular mall. The specialty of this mall lies in the San Antonio river that passes through it... or rather under it. Take a look at the pictures of the mall below:

All in all, this was one spell-binding experience for our family and we are still hoping that if we will get to do this again!! :)

For more interesting facts about the San Antonio river and the riverwalk please check out the following link:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/150years/article/20-Things-to-know-about-the-River-Walk-6088171.php#photo-6475577

Thank you for reading my posts and see you all again later at another place, in another time. 

Bye

Thanks to the following sites for some of the pictures in this blog:

http://www.rantlifestyle.com/2014/07/18/10-things-you-must-do-in-san-antonio/

http://www.twincityphotos.com/san-antonio-riverwalk-for-the-amazing-destination.html/san-antonio-riverwalk-restaurants

http://imglop.com/san-antonio-riverwalk-at-night.asp

http://www.usatoday.com/story/dispatches/2013/10/03/san-antonio-river-walk-expands/2903501/