More San Antonio

Btw, anyone watching Top Chef Texas?? Definitely think Paul should win!

Since Dad and I didn't know what was going on with the car (see previous post) on Monday, we took the day to visit the San Jose Mission in San Antonio. I had been to San Antonio before and had of course toured the Riverwalk, the Alamo and the touristy spots like Sea World, the San Antonio Zoo, and Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Well, I definitely enjoyed visiting The San Jose Mission and would love to go again. If you were like me and didn't know too much about the Missions, here's the quick breakdown. There are five mission "complexes" in San Antonio and The Alamo is actually one of them (and then famously became the Alamo during Texas' fight for independence). The San Jose Mission was built in the early 1700s. These missions were small communities that were built in "The New World" to bring Spanish culture and well, forced conversion to Catholicism, to wherever the Crown conquered. They were built by the local Indians of that time under the command of the Franciscans who founded the Mission. The tour of the mission was impressive and informative. I learned that when it was founded, there was a Franciscan priest that ran the show and lived in the rooms adjacent to the church. The Indians were given a one room home to live in and the whole community was surrounded by fortified stone walls with a large courtyard center that held their daily activities (farming, milling, schooling, etc). Eventually, disease and local fighting with other native tribes killed off the Indians. That's it in a nutshell, but the tour was beautifully done! And here are the pics  (taken with my iphone):

The little homes for the locals:

And one side of the Church being restored:

The "rose window" is shown below. It is quite famous and has a good story to it if you care to google it. I am quoting from the San Jose Mission site here, "The window, sculpted ca. 1775, has been the object of both legend and admiration. It is considered one of the finest examples of baroque architecture in North America. The meaning behind the name is currently unknown, but legend has it named for Rosa, the betrothed of Juan Huizar who many believe created the window."

It was such a peaceful, "perfect weather" day when we visited and I'm so glad these missions are preserved!