Stroll Through the San Antonio Botanical Gardens

Located just off Broadway at 555 Funston, the San Antonio Botanical Garden features a wide variety of flowers and plants, with a particular focus on plants native to Texas. They’re open from 9:00 am-5:00 pm every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

Admission is $7 for adults and $4 for kids (ages 3-13). Make sure to visit their website before you go to print out their extensive birding checklist, including several species of hummingbirds, flycatchers, warblers, and many more.

The garden path includes sections on the Hill Country, South Texas, East Texas Piney Woods, Texas Nature Trail, and the Palm and Cycad Pavilion (which is that metal-and-glass contraption you can see from Broadway).

Grab a quick bit to eat at their bistro (Tuesday-Sunday 11:00 am-2:00 pm).

During the summer, they feature “Summer Concerts Under the Stars” on June 25, July 9, and July 23 at 7:00 pm. General admission is $5. Bring blankets and lawn chairs. No outside food or drink is allowed, but you can call in advance (368-8686) by Wednesday at noon to order a Central Market picnic box (pick up at the Garden when you arrive).

The San Antonio Farmers Market Association visits every Thursday from 8:00 am- 1:00 pm. The market features a wide variety of local fresh fruit and vegetables.

Through June 26, you can also enjoy viewing the work of Icelandic sculptor Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. (Thank goodness for copy/paste. What a name.) His freestanding aluminum and iron sculptures are featured in the overlook area.

Enjoy a Tasting at Sister Creek Vineyards

An easy (and pretty) 30-minute drive from north San Antonio, make sure to stop at Sister Creek Vineyards in Sisterdale on your weekend Hill Country drive. Housed in an old cotton gin, the winery produces wines with grapes from the High Plains (mostly), including award-winning Muscats and other varieties.

A tasting is free for three wines; for $5, you get a taste of 8 for $5 (plus tax). $2.50 gets you two one-ounce pours of the Meritage blends. All their wines are very reasonably priced. They encourage guests to take a self-guided tour of the winery.

We enjoyed a 2007 Meritage blend of three grapes (cabernet, merlot, and sangiovese). Only available since March, they’re hearing great feedback. The Meritage blends are available only at the vineyard.

In July 2002, their small vineyard drowned under 8 feet of water (from that summer’s 43” of rain). The vines developed root rot, destroying all of them. They were on track this year to harvest once again, but a few weeks ago, a hard freeze killed them all again. Our host said, “we’ll be feeding birds and raccoons this year.” Such are the vagaries of the wine business.

San Antonio Film Festival

Think you gotta go to Hollywood or Austin for an indie film festival? Think again!

The San Antonio Film Festival celebrates its 15th year with an eclectic lineup. Held June 25-28 with two daily screenings (daytime 2:00-5:00 pm; evening 7:00-11:00pm), the Festival will award nine jury prizes. Many of the films are “shorts” of less than 10 minutes. You’ll of course see several of these during a screening.

The Festival accepts entries from around the world. Some of this year’s features from San Antonio:

• “The Thing Walking Outside,” directed by Valdemar Belmares. An eight-minute short about children and their imagination.


• “Shaken,” directed by Sylvia Rincon. A 15-minute film about a family dealing with long-term illness.


• “Death Rattle,” directed by A.J. Garces. A short film based on Amparo Garcia Crow’s award-winning story.

There are also several longer features.

The festival is held at the Instituto Cultural de Mexico (600 Hemisfair Plaza Way). Tickets are sold at the door only, and seating is limited, so arrive early. Day screenings are $10; evening screenings are $15.

Enjoy “Il Trovatore” This Weekend by the San Antonio Opera

Running this weekend at the Lila Cockrell Theatre (8:00 pm Friday/Saturday, 2:00 pm Sunday), Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” includes spells, lifelong feuds, gypsies, and curses. Several of the arias and choruses will be familiar to even non-opera lovers. The opera is sung in Italian with English/Spanish supertitles.

The San Antonio Opera began in 1996, after a 15-year absence of opera from San Antonio, as the San Antonio Pocket Opera. They produced one-act operas with a modest budget and leftover scenery from the San Pedro Playhouse. Today, their budget exceeds $2,000,000, and they are able to contract both international artists as well as local performers. The orchestra comprises about 50 musicians and a semi-professional chorus of about 40 local vocalists. Since its inception, they’ve performed 47 major operas.

Tickets are $40-$110, available at Ticketmaster outlets.

The new season begins in the fall with “Madama Butterfly,” “Daughter of the Regiment,” and “Rigoletto.” They’ll perform at Municipal Auditorium while the Lila Cockrell Theatre undergoes renovation.