San Francisco

On the waterfront with Alcatraz Island in the background
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On our first day in the ‘City By The Bay’ we caught a ferry out to Alcatraz Island. We were glad we had booked our ferry tickets online when we saw the massive queue of tourists waiting at the dock. The day could only be described as that typical foggy San Francisco day, where the top of the Golden Gate Bridge was obscured in dense low cloud. The rest of the bay was clear though and we had a great time walking around the island housing the infamous former maximum security prison. A fascinating audio tour gave you all the stories behind the prison history, its infamous guests including Al Capone and the numerous escape attempts.

The infamous federal prison that once housed Al Capone
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Once back on the mainland we wandered down to Fishermans Wharf and browsed the dozens of shops and restaurants. The local specialty here is seafood chowder in sourdough bread. We also noticed that the world’s largest privately owned yacht The Maltese Falcon was tied up at the docks.

we struck it lucky with the weather on the day we walked the bridge

Further along at Pier 39 we smelled something fishy before turning the corner to see a couple of hundred California sea lions hauled up on pontoons in the marina. They have become quite a noisy tourist attraction and local boaties don’t seem to mind giving them the space.

Inside the main cell block B
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After getting in a day’s shopping in the city we wandered up to Lombard Street where the iconic San Francisco cable cars look down one of the steepest residential streets in the city. This street is a magnet for tourists because of its one block section consisting of a series of tight hairpin turns. Seeing a cable car pass the top of this street with Alcatraz in the background was one of our quintessential San Francisco moments.

Our last day in the city turned out to be the best weather. A beautiful calm sunny day gave us the perfect chance to see the beaches to the east of the Golden Gate Bridge, and of course, the bridge itself. Painted in striking ‘International Orange’, the bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was completed in 1937. The deck is 75m above the water at its highest point and is (disturbingly) still the most popular suicide location in the world by far, claiming over 1,200 lives in total to date. Being thankfully not too windy, the bridge gave us glorious views over the city and San Francisco Bay.