Exploring San Antonio? Use the VIVA bus
After three days of spicy Tex-Mex food, husband Steve and I were ready for a culinary change. It was "spring break" week March 11-17 in San Antonio, Texas, and we Iowans were in the middle of a favorite vacation spot in this state.
We Bakers had embarked on a 28-day, 4,742-mile trip through the southeastern part of the United States, driving through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
During our multi-day stay we walked to the Historic Market Square in the city, and en route, passed by a very busy cafeteria named Bill Miller's Barbeque. It was packed with local office workers, construction workers, and others. Steve and I loaded up on lunch foods, and found a place to sit.
As we ate, I brought up the fact we had yet to find a way to get to a location I found of interest: The McNay Art Museum. We talked about using a taxi, Uber, or driving there, when a woman at the next table spoke up: "I don't mean to butt in, but have you heard of the VIVA bus?" she asked.
We had not. The VIVA central bus station was two doors away, and after lunch we stopped in to learn about the city bus program for tourists, students, and others. The VIVA buses cost $2.75 per day (in contrast to the "hop-on, hop-off " bus that was like $35 per ticket, per day). It ran from the Alamo location to various sites in the city.
We used it two days, to see the McNay Art Museum, which featured American and European Art, in a 1929 mansion. We were lucky to catch a special exhibit of African-American Art on our visit; that was especially cool as I'm not too familiar with the genre.
On the second day we went to the San Antonio Zoo; it was full of families and many, many children, and we had a blast. They have recently opened an exhibit for hippos; there was a mother and her baby, and they swam by us, just as a local TV camera man pushed in to record the sight. The up-close visibility of dozens of animals was unusual; we've been to many zoos but have not seen the huge variety that's present in this zoo.
In general, we strolled the RiverWalk several times and hiked around the city as much as possible. More blogs to come, about the three weeks that followed San Antonio.
We Bakers had embarked on a 28-day, 4,742-mile trip through the southeastern part of the United States, driving through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
During our multi-day stay we walked to the Historic Market Square in the city, and en route, passed by a very busy cafeteria named Bill Miller's Barbeque. It was packed with local office workers, construction workers, and others. Steve and I loaded up on lunch foods, and found a place to sit.
As we ate, I brought up the fact we had yet to find a way to get to a location I found of interest: The McNay Art Museum. We talked about using a taxi, Uber, or driving there, when a woman at the next table spoke up: "I don't mean to butt in, but have you heard of the VIVA bus?" she asked.
We had not. The VIVA central bus station was two doors away, and after lunch we stopped in to learn about the city bus program for tourists, students, and others. The VIVA buses cost $2.75 per day (in contrast to the "hop-on, hop-off " bus that was like $35 per ticket, per day). It ran from the Alamo location to various sites in the city.
We used it two days, to see the McNay Art Museum, which featured American and European Art, in a 1929 mansion. We were lucky to catch a special exhibit of African-American Art on our visit; that was especially cool as I'm not too familiar with the genre.
On the second day we went to the San Antonio Zoo; it was full of families and many, many children, and we had a blast. They have recently opened an exhibit for hippos; there was a mother and her baby, and they swam by us, just as a local TV camera man pushed in to record the sight. The up-close visibility of dozens of animals was unusual; we've been to many zoos but have not seen the huge variety that's present in this zoo.
In general, we strolled the RiverWalk several times and hiked around the city as much as possible. More blogs to come, about the three weeks that followed San Antonio.
Comments
Post a Comment