San Francisco - 28th October to 1st November, 2016.

Our Greyhound bus arrived in to San Francisco after dark and in the middle of a torrential rain storm. From the bus station we caught a taxi to our hostel, the Green Tortoise. Interestingly, it was located between the San Fran red light district and Chinatown.

It was a great hostel with all the amenities and services we could ever ask for, but due to our budget as long term backpackers, we had booked a double bed in a 2 bed mixed dorm. We had been hoping that we would luck out and get the room to ourselves anyway, but sadly we ended up with a roommate for the five nights we stayed (though I will say that as far as backpacker roommates go he was excellent!). We dumped our bags before we grabbed a quick dinner and settled in for the night to plan out our activities for the next few days.  We decided that like some of the previous cities we had visited, we would opt for the Hop on/Hop off bus tour in order to give us a convenient and cheapish way to get around what is a fairly spread out city.

The next morning we ventured down through the very interesting Chinatown where there is always plenty to see. This is actually the oldest Chinatown in North America, established in 1848, with the largest Chinese population in the world outside of Asia. We got ourselves breakfast at Starbucks as we waited (as had become our very touristy tradition throughout the USA) at the base of a very iconic building, the Transamerica Pyramid.

This building, at 260 metres is the tallest in San Francisco and stands out due to its unique shape. It tapers inwards towards the top to end up with a point. Built in 1969 this building was popularly hated for being so different when it was opened, in more modern times it has become iconic and loved by the San Franciscans as it is so different! Across the road from the Pyramid is another very historic building, the Columbus Tower. Bought by the famous director Francis Ford Coppola in the 1970s, this distinctive copper green building remains home to the film studio he founded to this day.

We caught our tour bus from the Transamerica building with a 3 day voucher, giving us plenty of time to get around and see as many of the cities highlights as possible. For day one we completed a circuit throughout Chinatown and the downtown business district before arriving at the famous Pier 39. As our guide spruiked about all of the great things that can be seen on the pier, we decided to hop off and explore for ourselves.

The pier is one of the biggest tour attractions in the city and therefore comes with a multitude of restaurants, cheesy souvenir stores and rather talented street performers. The highlight however, is the group of sea lions who have taken over their own patch of turf right next to the pier. You will usually smell and hear them before you see them.

Apparently these sea lions have not always claimed this area as their home. They used to live on a patch of rocks further out in San Francisco Bay, but suddenly in the mid 90s they mass-migrated in to shore to set up a new base. The reason is unknown, though it has been speculated that it was earthquake related, but it has been a huge blessing to the San Fran tourism industry with up to 1700 noisy sea lions roaring, cavorting and in general, just entertaining the tourists! On this particular day we had about 50 animals in attendance spread across five or six of their specially installed floats. Each float consisted of a group of relaxing females and one dominant male who spent all of his time angrily confronting any other males who dared approach his harem!

After grabbing a quick lunch we decided to hike back to our hostel through the city. The distance wasn't too far but as we had learned on our tour earlier in the day, San Francisco is the second hilliest city in the world! In case you are wondering La Paz, Bolivia, is number one.

Coit Tower atop Telegraph Hill on the left

We made our way up and down a few hills before seeing a rather unique looking tower perched up the top of a hill, down one of the long streets. We walked up towards it for a closer look and as we reached the top of the hill realised we could, for a small fee, actually enter and gain a great view out over the city and harbour.

We learned this building was called Coit Tower and was built in 1933 to honour Lillie Hitchcock Coit, one of the earliest prominent female firefighters and an influential figure in the city. This explained the unique shape, the tower was designed to resemble the nozzle of a firehose! We spent a good half hour at the top and due to the shape and location at the peak of Telegraph Hill, we could admire 360 degree views out over the area, especially Alcatraz island and the downtown city skyline.

As sunset approached we made our way down the hill in the direction of our hostel and we passed a large cluster of trees surrounding the base of Coit tower. Flocking through the trees was a huge group of green and red parrots, all very noisy and causing a ruckus. We later learned these parrots are Red Masked Parakeets, native to South America. This particular group started with a couple of escaped pets and have flourished in the conditions to form a very healthy local population. They are in fact a little famous and are the inspiration behind the indie movie, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.

The last site of interest we passed on our cross-city journey was the St Paul's Catholic Church established in 1911. Again this was a San Fran site made famous through a movie. In this case it was the church used for the filming of the movie Sister Act, starring Whoopi Goldberg.

The following day we again started out catching the hop on/hop off bus tour. This time we intended on completing a full loop and seeing THE iconic site of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge.  As we approached the bridge our guide warned that we were about to experience something that should San Francisco should be known as, not Chicago, the 'the windy city'.

As we crossed the bridge we were assaulted by a howling gale entering from the harbour mouth and which left several other tourists on the bus clutching at their hats or bolting downstairs to somewhere a little more sheltered. For us it was a great experience. Gazing up at the giant pylons and suspension cables was incredible as we crossed the bridges' 2.7 kilometre span.

We learned that this bridge was completed in 1937 and was given its iconic colour, known as 'international orange' in an effort to make it more visible in the common mists and fogs that cover the area. This day was no exception and when we hopped off the bus at Marin County on the opposite side of the harbour hoping for some postcard shots, we were thwarted by the rolling fog banks. We stayed at the viewing point for around an hour, waiting for the fleeting moments when the bridge would emerge, madly trying to capture a couple of decent shots. Finally, satisfied that we had taken the best photos we would be able to get, we hopped back on the next bus and headed back in to the city.

For the evening we were visiting a restaurant that Holly had very fond memories of, the Stinking Rose. This restaurant is unique in that it adds mass amounts of garlic to everything that it serves, table water and all, providing an original dining experience. We also quickly discovered that the prices were sky high, it certainly cost top dollar to enjoy this unique experience! We ordered a couple of cheaper pasta dishes (delicious and garlic packed!) and enjoyed the high quality garlic bread on offer. All up a fun and delicious experience, albeit one that we couldn't afford to do too often!

The next morning we set off on foot once more to continue ticking off our bucket list of San Franciscan sites. First up was the 'most crooked street in the world' (second most behind New York’s Wall Street according to a tour guides 'dad joke'), Lombard street. Apparently this street was designed in its unique back and forth twists, in order to reduce speeding cars hooning along down the hill. These days the area faces different hazards. First of all intense gridlock from all the visiting tourists who want to take their cars down the street, stopping for photos every couple of metres of course, and secondly from the crowds of tourists on foot who mill about in the middle of the roads looking for the perfect shot! All in all it was interesting to see but certainly not worth causing a traffic accident over!

We continued across to the harbour and Pier 39 where after checking out our sea lion friends we jumped back on the hop on/hop off bus for the final time. We rode the bus up to the top of one of the hills near Alamo Square, close to the row of buildings known as 'the painted ladies' or 'postcard row', made most famous by their use in the TV show, Full House. After snapping a few pictures we navigated up and over a couple more hills to Haight-Ashbury, apparently the alternative capital of San Francisco.

There were plenty of funky cafes, tattoo parlours, giant street art murals and a swarm of hipster looking folk everywhere that we looked. Certainly an interesting and vibrant place! We settled on a smallish hole in the wall bar and settled in for a couple of beers while we watched the world go by. All in all a pretty fun afternoon!

For our final day in San Francisco we were finally visiting one of the places that I had most been looking forward to. The famous, Alcatraz Island. Sadly the weather had taken a turn for the worst and we were faced with constant torrential rain as we headed to the ferry terminal.

The rain continued as we made our way across the harbour and arrived at the island itself. Alcatraz is most famous for being a federal penitentiary between the years of 1934 and 1963. It was a temporary home to some of the most infamous criminals in USA history like Al Capone and Robert Franklin Stroud aka 'the Birdman of Alcatraz'.

It also had swirling rumours of torture and severe prisoner abuse as well as a slight touch of the supernatural with legends of a resident ghoul. 

For the general public at the time, the whole island was a mystery, no access was granted to the public and any information about the day to day goings on was severely limited. It is very easy to see how the mystery of Alcatraz quickly became a thing of legend.

After a quick introductory video we set off on a tour through the main prison complex. The tour was run via audio guide with video accounts from formers guards and inmates, really giving great insight into what prison life on Alcatraz was like. We sampled life in the small cells and walked down the infamous Broadway, a name coined by the inmates for the main corridor splitting B and C block.

It was also very interesting learning about some of the unsolved mysteries of the prison. Alcatraz was infamously deemed to be inescapable, though there was an incident in 1962 that throws the claim in to doubt. In perhaps the most famous of the 14 recorded escape attempts, 3 prisoners escaped via an unused utility corridor leaving paper mâché likenesses of themselves behind in their prison beds. They had a makeshift raft prepared in order to navigate the crossing over San Francisco Bay. The escapees are presumed to have died in the freezing waters while attempting to navigate the bay, but there has never been evidence to determine an official outcome.

After completing the tour we queued up for the return ferry, now in blazing sunshine thanks to the ever changing and unpredictable weather!

We had a quiet final afternoon in San Francisco, very satisfied with our visit to the city overall and certainly convinced that it was one of our highlights of the US thus far.

Adrian.