Explore San Antonio

The Spanish Governor's Palace on Military Plaza is a one-storey adobe residence completed in 1749 for the captain of the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar; the keystone over the door bears the arms of King Ferdinand VI. The last visible part of the presidio and a National Historic Landmark since 1970, it is a city museum with furnished rooms and a courtyard garden.

Hard Rock Cafe San Antonio is a restaurant of the Hard Rock chain on the San Antonio River Walk, opened in January 1995 on Crockett Street. The building has three floors with patios and balconies over the river, a dining room hung with music memorabilia, a rooftop bar and a Rock Shop.

The Alamo is the former Mission San Antonio de Valero, founded by Spanish Franciscans in 1718, whose limestone church and Long Barrack stand on Alamo Plaza downtown. In 1836 it was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in the Texas Revolution, in which its defenders were killed. Visitors enter the church, walk the grounds and see exhibits of the period.

The Tower of the Americas is a 229 m (750 ft) observation tower in Hemisfair, designed by San Antonio architect O'Neil Ford as the theme structure of the 1968 world's fair, HemisFair '68. Elevators rise to an observation deck with floor maps and murals on the history of Texas, a bar and a revolving restaurant; there is also a 4D theater ride.

The San Antonio Museum of Art occupies the former Lone Star Brewery, a castle-like brick complex from the 1880s on the Museum Reach of the River Walk, and opened in 1981. Its collection of about 30,000 objects covers antiquities from Egypt, Greece and Rome, Asian art, Latin American art including folk art, and modern and contemporary works.

The Japanese Tea Garden lies in a former limestone quarry on the northwestern edge of Brackenridge Park, next to the San Antonio Zoo. Laid out from 1917 by Parks Commissioner Ray Lambert, it has stone paths and arched bridges, koi ponds, a waterfall and a thatched pavilion; the Jingu family lived in the garden from 1919 and ran a tea room there.

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park preserves four Spanish missions founded in the 18th century along the San Antonio River: Concepción, San José, San Juan and Espada, together with the Espada Aqueduct. Their stone churches still hold Catholic services, the park's visitor center is at Mission San José, and the missions form part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.