By: Becca Hensley | From: AARP
Day 5: San Antonio
Start the morning at the Pearl, an entertainment district within the bones of a sprawling 19th-century brewery complex. Located on the San Antonio River about 2 miles north of downtown, the district draws both locals and visitors with its shops, galleries, restaurants, boutique hotel and outdoor green spaces. If possible, schedule your visit for the weekend to coincide with a humming farmers market packed with vendors of every stripe. (On Saturday’s, you'll find food purveyors, and Sunday’s market is focused on crafts.) Whatever the day, eat breakfast at Bakery Lorraine, where French-trained bakers serve up fantastic macarons, almond croissants and croque madames (the French version of a ham-and-cheese sandwich, topped with a fried egg).
Four miles north, you’ll find the McNay Art Museum, set in a stately Italianate villa built by prescient art collector Marion Koogler McNay to hold her cache of 19th-century artwork. The first modern art museum in Texas is home to masterworks by the likes of Paul Cézanne, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera.