San Antonio is the second-largest city in the state of Texas and the seventh largest city in the United States and named after the Italian Saint Anthony of Padua. San Antonio's weather is alternately dry or humid depending on prevailing winds, turning hot in the summer, mild to cool winters subject to northern cold fronts in the winter, and comfortably warm and rainy in the spring and fall. San Antonio has a diversified economy in financial services, health care, national defense, and tourism.
San Antonio is a popular tourist destination. Beyond taking in the sights and sounds of San Antonio, tourists can sample some of its world famous Texan-Mexican cuisine at many fine restaurants throughout the city. Because of its status as a historic urban center, the architecture and layout of San Antonio are more traditionally urban than other cities in Texas, such as Dallas and Austin. Census estimates its population at 1,942,217 making it the third-most populated metro area in Texas and the 30th-most populated metro area in the U.S.
Famous for its River Walk, the Alamo, Tejano culture, and home to the Sea World San Antonio and Six Flags theme parks, this city is visited by 20 million tourists per year. San Antonio has one major newspaper, the San Antonio Express-News, which has served the area since 1865. San Antonio hosts over 100,000 students across its 31 higher-education facilities which include local branches of both the University of Texas and Texas A&M University, and the Alamo Community College District's five colleges.
The Alamo Located on Alamo Plaza in downtown San Antonio, Texas, the Alamo represents nearly 300 years of history. Just a short walk from the River Walk, the Alamo is a "must see" for all who come to San Antonio. October 1835, Texans laid siege to the town of Bexar (San Antonio), taking control with the surrender of General MartínPerfecto de Cos at the Alamo on Dec. Although the Alamo fell in the early morning hours of March 6, 1836, the death of the Alamo Defenders has come to symbolize courage and sacrifice for the cause of Liberty. The fall of the Alamo and the massacreof its garrison, which in 1836 opened the campaign of Santa Anain Texas, caused a profound sensation throughout the United States,and is still remembered with deep feeling by all who take an interestin the history of that section; yet the details of the final assaulthave never been fully and correctly narrated, and wild exaggerationshave taken their place in popular legend.