Audioguides San Antonio

San Antonio was named by Spanish explorers in 1691 on the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padua, and the infrastructure followed quickly: a mission and presidio in 1718, the first civil settlement chartered in Texas in 1731. The Alamo -- properly the Mision San Antonio de Valero -- is the city's indelible fact. The battle of February-March 1836, where Texian defenders held out for 13 days against Mexican army forces before being killed almost entirely, became the rallying cry for Texas independence. The granite and limestone mission chapel is remarkably modest for something that carries so much historical weight.

San Antonio's 64% Hispanic population makes it the largest majority-Hispanic major city in the United States, a character shaped by 300 years of Spanish colonial influence, continuous Mexican immigration, and cultural exchange across the nearby border.

The River Walk, a landscaped waterway a few meters below street level, winds for 24 kilometers through downtown and is lined with restaurants, hotels, and bars built into the limestone canyon walls. At night, the lights on the water and the sound bouncing off the stone create an atmosphere that is genuinely pleasant and entirely unlike anything else in Texas.