San Antonio Missions

I gave you the weekend off because posting about it would have been just too boring. We spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the dog park, at Riverwalk, eating fabulous Mexican food at a variety of restaurants, visiting with our neighbors, watching parades on TV, reading, relaxing, etc. The last two parades of Fiesta are the Battle of the Flowers and the Flambeau. They are held on Friday and Saturday respectively; each of them draws 300,000 to 350,000 spectators lining the downtown parade routes. With parking at a premium and our attitude toward crowds of that size, we opted to watch them on TV all comfy at home. Oh shoot, I guess I could have posted photos of floats and marching bands taken on the TV screen...see what I mean about boring blog material?

Even though the Alamo is by far the most famous, there are four more missions on the San Antonio Mission Trail. Since yesterday was our last day there, after taking the girls for one last romp at the greatest dog park ever, visiting the missions would be the last of our San Antonio sightseeing. The first Spanish mission on the San Antonio river, the Alamo was founded in 1718. Over the next thirteen years, the other four were established along the river.forming the largest concentration of Catholic missions in North America. The compounds were open, but I could not enter two of the four churches because San Jose is being renovated and San Juan closed early, just as we got there.

Mission Concepcion

Mission San Jose

This is the largest compound with most buildings and the walls intact, known as the "Queen of the Missions."

Mission San Juan

This is the entrance through which a gatekeeper would give permission to enter the mission...y'all know by now how I love gates and doorways.

Mission Espada

Another gateway, this one framed that magnificent tree with the tangled trunks.

I was deeply touched by the simplicity of this church.

Lovin' Life ~~ Experiencing History

Bev

P.S. We are driving through Houston as I click on "Publish Post"!