Hola San Antonio!

San Antonio's beautiful River Walk at dusk. Photo: Getty Images

Every day feels like Christmas at Mi Tierra, San Antonio's best-loved bakery and restaurant. Neon-coloured fairy lights, draped over every wall, are migrating to the ceiling, while glittering star-shaped piatas hang in flocks overhead. Adding to the festive feeling is the colourful array of cakes and biscuits on display, laden with nuts or flavoured creams or super-sweet dulce de leche.

Mi Tierra is a local landmark, one of the favourite gathering places for San Antonio's large Mexican community. This southern part of Texas used to belong to Mexico, and the majority of the population is still Hispanic. You can feel the influences everywhere: in the restaurants; in El Mercado, the largest Mexican market in the US, which lies just across the way from Mi Tierra; and in the murals.

A mural at a convenience store near Mission Concepcion. Photo: Getty Images

Mexicans have elevated the mural into an art form, and more than 100 works adorn walls in the neighbourhood known as Westside. Depictions of the Virgin Mary both in traditional and psychedelic purple versions alternate with other images, including colourful floral patterns. My particular favourite, outside La Chiquita bakery, shows couples dancing while a guitarist plays, accompanied by an accordion. The dance steps are marked on the footpath beneath the mural, so you can practise the steps.

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The Latin influence has dominated San Antonio since the 17th century, when Spanish priests established a number of missions here. Living alone on the frontier, the missionaries built self-sufficient communities that featured not just magnificent churches but also gardens and orchards, kitchens and workshops. Most of the missions now lie just outside town however, the one in the centre of town has become a touchstone of Texan history.

The mission originally known as San Antonio de Valero is now better known as The Alamo, and was the scene of a disastrous battle in Texas's fight for independence from Mexico. At the next battle, the Battle of San Jacinto, the Texan troops rode into battle crying, "Remember the Alamo!" and vanquished the much larger army of General Santa Anna. For many Americans, The Alamo is something approaching a shrine, but the building itself is dark and offers little to see.

Mexican wrestling masks at a souvenir store in Mercado Plaza. Photo: Getty Images

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Hola San Antonio!