In late May, wildflowers bloom in the grassy fields that surround Mission Concepcion outside San Antonio, Texas. I wandered along the mission’s walking paths on a warm spring afternoon enjoying the flowers and appreciating the 300-year-old Moorish-influenced architecture — including a remarkably beautiful old church. Nearly all of the structures are original at the site and it’s easy to close your eyes and imagine what life might have been like in the early 1700s when the mission was established.
San Antonio is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States and a tech hub for the state of Texas, but the modern-day city is rooted in the past. Franciscan friars established six missions along the San Antonio River in the 1700s and five of them flourished and evolved into independent communities that ultimately became the foundation of the modern-day city of San Antonio. Today the five missions and a historic ranch property are part of the San Antonio UNESCO World Heritage Site, a site that can be explored in a day or two.
Many visitors to San Antonio visit the Alamo, the most legendary of the original missions, but most miss the opportunity to visit the other four missions that make up the world heritage site. These missions have remarkable architecture, but their greatest achievement is not found in the buildings that were left behind. The unique interlacing of cultures that you find in south Texas can be traced back to the original missions and exploring them can.