New Vision for San Antonio’s Old Missions
©Bert Gildart: Here in San Antonio, Texas, the great good news is that a bicycle trail is being developed that will take cyclists all the way from the Alamo, located in the downtown area, to Estrada, the area’s most distant of missions. That’s a distance of about 30 miles, and an optimistic date for completion is two years.
Cycling to missions is now being made easier with developing trail
Currently a trail that parallels the San Antonio River already exists and it allows cyclist to ride from Mission Concepcion to Mission Estrada, a round trip distance of about 15 miles. That’s what Janie and I did yesterday, and there is absolutely no more enjoyable way to to explore the history of early Texas than to cruise along the river, looking at birds and then taking the spur roads that lead to the various missions.
ELEGANT REMINDERS OF THE PAST
In short, the missions of San Antonio were more than just churches; they were communities. Each was a fortified village with its own church, farm and ranch. Here, Franciscans gathered native peoples and converted them to Catholicism, taught them to live as Spaniards, and with them, maintained control over the Texas frontier.
Beauty of the missions
The Franciscans established six missions along the San Antonio River in the early 1700s, and five of them survived. Together, along with the Villa of San Fernando, they became the foundation of the city of San Antonio. Today, as the many signs at the missions inform, “they serve as elegant reminders of the Indians and Hispanic peoples contributions to the United States.”
EASY ACCESS
The campground at which Janie and I are staying, Travelers World, provides immediate access to the Mission Trail. Because photography is such an important part of my outings our adventures required the entire day. Each mission offered different vignettes of a by-gone era, and at one place we saw an old grist mill in action. In another, a young lady was using Mission San Jose as a backdrop for her soon-to-be wedding, and few settings we both agreed could be more beautiful.
Bells at the Mission of San Juan Capistrano
Though we toured all the missions except the Alamo, which is also an old mission, we plan a return to several, simply because the lighting was wrong for certain features such an old east-facing wall. As mentioned, we’re also here to visit old friends, so between the two we’re staying very busy.
__________________________________________
