A visit to Spain. Sorta...

This year I've visited two sites of national significance, both of which happen to have been built by the Spanish before the end of the 18th century. They both served, among other purposes, as important centers for the whole-sale slaughter re-edumacation of native peoples. These two national historical landmarks I'm talking about are the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, TX (29°25′30.46″N, 98°29′8.81″W) and the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, FL (29°53′52″N, 81°18′41″W). Also unique about these two locales is I think they may be the only pre-19th century historical sites I've visited anywhere in the nation which do not contain a historical marker talking about how Andrew Jackson killed a bunch of Indians. But who am I kidding, I'm sure I just missed it. Anyhoo, I took a bunch of photos I thought might be of some interest (click on the thumbnail or link for the larger image).


Alamo













So the Alamo is a rather nondescript feature of downtown San Antonio. It's not really what one would picture when thinking of the battle of independence of Texas. Of course, during the actual siege and battle, the battlements covered much more area than the current memorial does. You won't see any pictures of the interior, because it is basically considered a holy site. It's pretty surreal. I didn't take any pictures of the riverwalk or anything. It's a cool place to hang out and have a few beers, but it's basically just a bunch of shops, bars, and restaurants.

Here are a couple of exterior shots. One of the back, one of the hump, and one from the side. I also took this one of the facade. I find it more appealing oriented horizontally for some reason. dunno, but it just seems to draw me in more.


Here are a couple of pics from the memorial













Crockett and Travis
Bowie and Bonham

Castillo de San Marcos






The walls of the Castillo are made of Coquina, which is a sedimentary rock formed mainly from eons of depositions of marine benthic macroinvertebrates. This stone was great for building forts, because it was relatively soft and cannon balls would sort of sink into the walls rather than shatter them.













A shot of the north wall facing west. Note the shallow moat.

Another shot of the north wall, facing NE.

The Spanish flag flying over the SE wall.

The interior of the fort was pretty dank, and a tad on the warm and musty side. I'm sure it would have sucked in June wearing full military regalia. But it probably would have sucked less than getting shot in the ass by an arrow.










powder magazine, back in bowels (you've got to crawl through to get in here)
A Cannon. All of the Spanish artillery pieces had extremely elaborate decorative touches and inlays. Most of the cannons and mortars were forged out of copper. Signage indicated they were on loan from the US military academy, although one of the larger mortars was on loan from Yale. WTF?

I also took a few pictures of the chapel. I thought the details on the holy water fonts were pretty intricate.

And lastly here is a picture from the Tolomato cemetery. which dates back to the early 18th century (the cemetery, not the picture you wise ass).