Yanaguana, Countdown City, Saytown, Alamo City, Mission City, River City, and Military City, U.S.A..

Hello, I'm John Olson. Welcome to Next Stop from San Antonio. Next stop San Antonio. [Music] Antonio. Welcome to San Antonio, also known as the Alamo City. San Antonio is the most visited city in Texas by tourists, and for good reason. There's so much to see and do. We'll be featuring the highlights and an amazing Latin Grammy Award-winning artist. She's known as the countdown, since her zip code is 2, and it's our countdown. So the fun starts now. Next stop. I just arrived in San Antonio, and I can't think of a better way to see it than across the river. It's breathtaking. I get to meet people from all over the world. They come here to the city park, but also, of course, we welcome visitors. [Music] Alright, hello, good afternoon, and welcome to San Antonio, my hometown. We're going to cruise through the most exciting and historic sections of the River Walk. I'll tell you a lot about its history. The city and the River Walk have grown together for centuries. And I'll tell you the stories of the buildings that we'll see along the way, too. If you notice an audience, you might be wondering. sitting there on the left side imagine 800 people completely filling the hill or imagine a concert happening across the water because to my right over on this side there's a little space that's a stage If you're curious about how long this has been here it's actually quite a story We start with a river It's a real river the nature path of the San Antonio River The River Walk was a project of the federal government to have a park on the [Music] river In 1929 this tower looking building was designed by architects etley Robert Aers There are little details on the second floor like faces and monsters and flowers in the windows of it Superstition says that the monsters and gargoyles protect it from bad luck and evil spirits Okay The next building on the right the brown brick one built in 1926 was to show black and white silent movies On the left let's look at this leaning building the tall yellow one People say it looks like it's going to fall down but let's see if you agree It looks like a freestanding wall Well don't worry about it It's not going to fall down There's a sharp angle at the whole building like a triangle And up high on the right is an observation deck the tallest structure in San Antonio We don't have a 60-story building but we do have a tower that is the height of a 60-story building As you can see this was a hemisphere expansion project for our trade show that was called Hemisferir On the left side this building is part of the convention center It's decorated with an amazing tile mosaic That's not a painting there's no paint at all The tile mosaic is made of tiny pieces of stone mostly about 2 cm wide it was built to show the coming together of cultures [Music] I like what you said you've met people from all over the world on the boat but at the end of the day we're all in the same boat That's a good one I liked And when you travel what do you tell people about San Antonio Why should they come I like to say it gives you a small town feel We're not one of the biggest cities in terms of skyscrapers but we still have a lot to offer with our growing tourism industry With our parks we have a number of theme parks and other attractions that are away from the river I think there's something unique that you won't find anywhere else I agree Thank you for having us It was a pleasure meeting you Likewise [Music] Next stop On the way back Next stop The place where David Crocket made his name and the restaurant that never closes Next stop You can't come to San Antonio Texas but visit the world famous Alamo This is truly a gift to us Show us tell us about this beautiful place We welcome you to the Alamo Now we're in a different location People who come here go straight to the church but this is the actual historic entrance to the Alamo grounds So the historic Alamo structure that we know is the one over there even though all of this is the Alamo Yeah what it does is show how big the grounds really are If you come here there's gray stone uh which represents an uh irrigation canal that ran through the Alamo So David Crocket was here Yes he was at the Alamo And for many the Alamo wouldn't be the Alamo without David Crocket That's why his death here is really important because for a lot of people it's like "I don't know where the cottonwood and what does that have to do with me but when you mention him it's like "Oh David Crocket was killed where?" So it really makes people more interested This is what I 'm talking about It's a lot bigger than it looks from out there It's beautiful The fields the foliage absolutely gorgeous Yeah And it really is And we're coming in behind the church This was a park in 1930 which created a green space This is fun and I like that they're dressed up according to that time This is typical of the 1830s and since we're in the warmer months we wear light pants These are the rapid-fire guns and you might want to know how fast a rapid-fire gun was in 18 Probably slower than a shot today A little bit Three times a minute Okay Three times a minute 31 m But when they're empty they've still got a gun And that's where [Music] Ah yeah The bayonet comes into play important Ready Set And aim Aim Fire Fire Tell us about the battle How long did it last Was it a long siege of 13 days 12 days being the site where Santana is arming reinforcements planning an escape route Around 200 people have died and on the Mexican side maybe 500 dead and wounded This has been a great day I am pleasantly surprised with San Antonio and the alamo was wonderful I thought it was just this however it has extensive and beautiful gardens Thank you for sharing the story and for sharing the alamo It was a pleasure [Music] Next stop With a population of 1.3 million people San Antonio is the seventh most populous city in the United States surpassed only by Houston in the state of Texas From 2000 to 2010 it had the largest growth of any city in the top 10 and receives over 26,000 ones of visitors per year making it the most popular tourist destination in the state of Texas It also hosts the four time NBA champions and much loved San Antonio Sportsmen For more information about this city go to visitsanantantantonio.com Next stop Since 1951 my land has been feeding locals and tourists has become quite an institution in this city of San Antonio and for good reason [Music] I like to hear a good family story and you've got a great one Thank you Well it all started with my grandfather Pedro and my grandmother Cruz Cortes We are in the place where he originally opened the restaurant with only $150 that an aunt and uncle borrowed him The story begins in 1951 This was the original restaurant or the main dining room We kept all the original wainscoting and cobículos to keep the style Yeah I love all the colors It's Christmas all year round That's how it is all year round Who does all this Well there have been a couple of artists that have worked on the mural The original artist was Jesus Garza now the current artist is Robert Eduarde There are artists there are presidents of Mexico and my family This is my grandfather Pedro and my grandmother Cruz [Music] It's all about the experience more than anything else And what we do in this room and all the spaces is for people to enjoy themselves have a good time the music the art on the wall the lights on the ceiling I'm here for the food I've seen a lot of food pass by and I haven't tried it Well that's what we'll do right away So what are you waiting for Well let's do it I said I was hungry but I don't know if that much God Well this is just a small part of what we serve here in my homeland We are a true Tex-Mex food capital You can find a little bit of everything Birria cabrito ground beef in poblano chile carnitas and all around here Since we're open 24 hours a day we also make chilaquiles which is a breakfast dish We have let's start I don't even know where Wherever you want [Applause] Next stop Coming back a city doing exactly the right thing and one of our favorite hotels [Music] Next stop San Antonio is passionately committed to the conservation and sustainability of the San Antonio River watershed and they're doing a great job Let's check it out Tell us about the San Antonio River Authority What is its purpose What we do here at the authority as a regional agency is to take care of the San Antonio River from here where they start Beer County 225 km south all the way to the Gulf Coast It doesn't always look So it depends on the seasons and obviously it looks a lot more colorful at certain times of the year although I think it's beautiful today I enjoy it all year round but you're absolutely right The colors depend on the different seasons depending on when visitors are in town I notice that people ride bikes walk and we're going to take a golf cart on our tour We 'll be able to call our golf cart Blue bonnet Perfect Perfect Alright [Music] Here we have some turtles that are basking on the rocks It's really a great place for our friends If you're a bird watcher this is going to be a paradise to come and enjoy If you really like to get out and just admire nature running walking and biking it's the ideal place But if it's someone who just wants to observe for example birds or butterflies we have many monarchs that migrate and fly through this place So this is really creating a habitat that is going to be a wonderful benefit to enjoy not only for us but for the other species that we share the area with What we have here is one of the many stations of Bacul that are throughout the San Antonio River both through the city to the north and all the way south to here Meets the goals of the project Take a look There are stations all along the river It's about 30 minutes from one destination to the next You leave it in you go out you enjoy your destination you come back you grab another one and keep going I'm very impressed [Music] We're here at the Mission Concepción portal There are four portals along the Mission project They're designed to connect the San Antonio River to the historic 1700s-era missions that are located in the city This one was recently built We had to raise these to get a little more height so we could have a view of the boathouse so what we see from here are the two Mission Concepción towers and it was built in the 1730s Actually in the 1700s the river flowed a lot closer to Mission Concepción when it was built Over the years we've channelized the river for flood control We controlled it as much as we could so we couldn't really restore the river back to its 1700s flow But We wanted to bring them back together. This river with this portal is to have that connection. Even though we know it 's not exactly the same one from the 1700s, it gives us the impression that the river and the mission are connected. All right. We're literally standing next to the river. An. Yes, here we are. At this goal of the Mission project, we've seen a lot of habitat restoration. We've talked about that today, but we've done a lot of work to restore the river. So we're not just doing it for the birds and the fish, we're doing it so we can enjoy it. So if you 're here enjoying a day of paddling or kayaking, you can just stop by. You do n't have to go out and go around. We're really trying to do something good for the environment and be enjoyable for us as well. Great job. Thank you very much, Steven. Thank you so much for coming. [Music] Next stop: Alaska Airlines offers nonstop service from San Antonio to Seattle. It is the gateway to the Pacific Northwest with connections to Canada, Hawaii, and Mexico. Its service is offered on state-of-the- art Boeing 737s, one of the youngest fleets in the industry. For more information, visit the and learn how you can explore more and spend less with Alaska Airlines. Next stop: The Westinghouse Hotel The Hill Country Quarry is at one of the highest points in San Antonio Overlooking the stunning Texas Hill Country, it's great for families, business travelers, and tourists, and this week for us, this gorgeous resort features 508 rooms, a full-service spa, six pools, including a children's pool and an adults-only pool. One of the pools has its own massager at no additional charge. Located just feet away from the main station, Casita Village is an escape within an escape. The village is made up of 11 casitas, and each one is named after famous Texas ranches, which is evident in the classic Texan style. The best thing about staying in the casitas is that each unit comes with its own golf cart to get around this 535-acre property. But please be courteous to other drivers and don't use your cell phone. Now let's look at the world- class resort. We're located at Francescas, a fine-dining place. Very fine-dining. It's a lot of fun. We use produce from local farms or community-sustained agriculture. Uh, uh, every Friday, we get amazing seasonal fruits and vegetables. We're constantly evolving our menus here. in Francescas You guys do special events too We were lucky enough to be a part of one of them Everyone makes their own blends Yeah it's our spice blend orientation class We showcase the range of all the different spices and then we show what each one does Your classic pairings What do you want to do with your spice result Do you want it to be something uh big and spicy for all your guests or something that's seasonal something that you can add to your dishes That's what I do There are 36 holes of championship golf here at the Westing Quarry Steve This is spectacular Anyone can play the golf courses It doesn't matter what type of player you are high handicap or low Women like these golf courses so I think that's a plus for us It's a great place they even have Six Flags right there So when you swing you hit a roller coaster You can go over there and hit a roller coaster If you like you can hit the shops at the quarry You can spend a lot of money there Do you really know how big this property is How big is it Well where we are at the moment is the golf course from the quarry and it's 250 acres so it 's big It's very big The course that we have is an Arnold Palmer company course and it's about 158 acres What do you tell people about San Antonio since you're from Iowa What do you tell people from Iowa about San Antonio I tell them you can go and play golf all year round since the weather is beautiful If you don't mind a little heat in the summer But other than that it's very beautiful And another thing that you'll find amazing is the hospitality Next stop As we return on Next Stop we will be featuring two-time Grammy Award winning artist Latin Next stop I'm gonna run away again Pearl Amphitheater San Antonio Texas I'm scared very scared