| Austin was only a tiny community on the verdant
banks of the (Texas) Colorado River when Mirabeau B. Lamar, president
of the Republic, suggested in 1839 that it would make a better capital
than swampy and disease-ridden Houston. Early building had to be
done under armed guard, as angry Comanche watched from the surrounding
hills,
but despite its perilous location, the city thrived.
These
days it wears its status as capital of Texas very lightly;
sightseeing rates as a low priority against simply hanging out.
Since the
1960s, this laid-back and progressive city has been a haven for
artists, musicians and writers. Many visitors come specifically
for the
music . Local musicians are renowned for their innovative reworkings
of Texas's country, folk and R&B heritage, often severing
their rural roots to use Austin's enthusiastic environment as
a springboard
to national recognition. Janis Joplin had her start here in the
early 1960s, and at the end of that decade, Austin was second
only to San Francisco in its adherence to the "turn on,
tune in, drop out" philosophy, with locals coining the term "headneck" to
describe themselves. Musicians hungry for fame still tumble
out of buses from all over Texas to seek their fortunes in
the literally
hundreds of live venues. Austin
is one of the few cities in the state where cycling is a viable
alternative to driving. It may not have completely avoided
the usual problems of urban growth - thanks to a sizeable population
leap, ugly suburbs have shot up to threaten its small-town
ambience
- but it feels wonderfully safe for visitors, even women traveling
alone, and the presence of the vast UT campus adds to the atmosphere,
even if almost every shop and streetlamp is adorned with the
unsightly brown and white colors of the college's Longhorns
football team. Hostels in Austin |
ROOMS USA
