SAN ANTONIO — It is why San Antonio is where it is. Now, more than 300 years after explorers first found the San Antonio River, it continues to draw tourists. In fact, next to the Alamo, the Riverwalk and riverboat tours may be the busiest tourist attraction in town.
Go Rio Cruises offer tourists a look at, and a great history lesson about San Antonio all while cruising down the San Antonio River. The river barge operators have to not only know how to navigate the narrow channels while as many as 20 other barges may be operating, but also know everything about everything along the way.
There are 37 unique points of interest along the roughly 40-minute cruise. Points like why it's called the San Antonio River and how the town got it's name, the folklore behind "Marriage Island," how Santa Anna established his cannon line at La Villita, even why there are gargoyles on top of the Tower Life building.
Perhaps the most interesting part, and once you have it down, is simply operating the barge. Having grown up around the Mississippi river, I thought it should be an easy task. My boat Captain Cliff Edwards gave me some tips and the wheel.
After a few minutes of, lets just say "less than stellar operation," we decided it would be better if Cliff operated the boat and I just added color to his narration.