San Francisco... a city with so much character

We spent 3 nights in Fisherman's Wharf in San Fransisco, which is about a 30 min drive from the aiport.

San Francisco is a nice city with so much character.

They have rolling steep roads where cars park perdendicular so that the cars won't roll. Their famous cable cars are so pretty, there are 3 different routes and cost $6 per trip. You can hop off at various stops. There were long queues for the cable cars.

Ever seen the movie 'The Rock' with Sean Connery? Alcatraz or 'The Rock' can be seen from Fisherman's Wharf. Alcatraz was a federal prison from 1933 until 1963 and now tourists can go visit the island. Similar to Robben Island near Cape Town, tourists catch a ferry and can tour the island. This is a very popular attraction so you need to book at least a week in advance. The time I wanted to book it was sold out.

Fisherman's Wharf is a nice area. We arrived there on New Year's Eve so walked to the pier to watch the fireworks. Was a great fireworks display, there were even fireworks shaped as red hearts and colourful smiley faces :) There are many shops and restaurants. Pier 39 is very popular, there are nice views of Alcatraz. There are also sea lions to see.

Apparently, the Chinatown in San Francisco is the second largest one. The shops were huge and so colourful.

We were fortunate to get a tour from one of Athol's friends. He took us to Alamo Square which has a lovely view of the city. There are also the famous 7 'Pale sisters' which are seen on postcards.

There is also a pier with old boats (such as schooners) which you can tour.

We went to the Golden Gate Bridge, a really beautiful sight!

I really like San Fransisco, the only thing is the fear that an earthquake could happen at any time. They had a massive one in 1906 (8.1 on the richter scale!) and a smaller one in 1989 (6.9 on the richter scale!) which killed many.