Empty Tomb: The Cenotaph

by RoadRunner | Feb 14, 2019 | history, San Antonio insider, Sightseeing

From the Greek words kenos (empty) and taphos (tomb) cenotaphs are tombs or monuments erected to honor a person or persons whose remains are elsewhere or their whereabouts unknown. This one in San Antonio’s Alamo Plaza is sometimes referred to as...

A Walk through Academia: Trinity University

by RoadRunner | Feb 14, 2019 | art, history, San Antonio insider, Sightseeing

Sunday’s 23k walk will take you through the campus of Trinity University, located between Brackenridge Park and the historic Monte Vista neighborhood. Presbyterians founded Trinity in 1869 in Tehuacana, Texas (about 40 miles NE of Waco) from the remnants of...

San Fernando Cathedral

by RoadRunner | Feb 13, 2019 | history, San Antonio insider, Sightseeing

The site for the Church of San Fernando was selected on July 2, 1731, when Juan Antonio Pérez de Almazán, captain of the Presidio of San Antonio, laid out a central square for the villa of San Fernando de Béxar. The cornerstone for the first attempt to build a stone...

Our Enchilada Red Library: More Than Books (But We Have Those, Too)

by RoadRunner | Feb 12, 2019 | art, history, San Antonio insider, Sightseeing

On every walk you get a view of San Antonio’s Enchilada Red Central Library, opened in May, 1995. It’s a prominent part of the San Antonio skyline. Here’s a short video explaining how it got built: You’ll walk past our two previous libraries on...

Take a Walk in a City Park

by RoadRunner | Feb 11, 2019 | history, nature, San Antonio insider, Sightseeing

One of the American Volkssport Association’s Special Programs is “Take a Walk in a City Park.” During the Texas Trail Roundup, you will do that. And do it again, and again, putting you on track to fill up the 20 walks required to earn the cool patch....

Two Really, Really, REALLY Interesting Hotel Stories

by RoadRunner | Feb 8, 2019 | history, San Antonio insider, Sightseeing

Last month we were hanging around downtown and an out-of-town friend pointed to the Fairmont Hotel, on the edge of La Villita,  and said, “bet that’s been there for a while.” Not really . . . the small hotel was built in 1906, but it’s only...