Echoes of the past

The Alamo, the site of a brave battle and once a celebrated Catholic mission in Texas, has been made famous by movies, and is now a popular tourist haunt.

IT was, quite honestly, a bucket- list side trip.

That’s why we detoured to San Antonio on our return from Austin to Houston, to see the home of the Alamo.

Yes, that Alamo, the historic one- time Catholic mission celebrated in Texas history, on television and in movies by Fess Parker, John Wayne and Billy Bob Thornton. I’m glad we went. The Alamo is the No. 1 tourist attraction in Texas and gets about 3 million visitors a year. It is the best- known building in Texas, although much of the compound has been lost over the years.

It is small, but the weathered limestone facade is still one of the most iconic images of America’s past.

Today what’s left of the belov- ed Alamo is considered hallowed ground by many. It is a 1.7ha shrine to Texas liberty and an emblem of the American West. Texas is very proud of the Alamo, aware of its history and imagery of doomed bravery and the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

The ruined mission is where William Barret Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and 186 others died in 1836, fighting for Texas sovereignty against a Mexican force of 2,600 commanded by Gen Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The defenders of the Alamo were killed after a 13- day siege.

The Alamo is in the heart of downtown San Antonio – the seventh- largest city in the United States with 1.3 million people and a big military presence – and surrounded by souvenir shops, fast- food restaurants and Ripley, Guinness, Louis Tussaud