Car Hire in San Francisco
Alcatraz and Hippies
For many visitors the city, San Francisco conjures up images of Hait Asbury, hippies and VW camper vans adorned with psychedelic coloured flowers and the compulsory "peace sign".
The city has moved on since the heady, hippie, days of the late 60s, but somehow it has managed to retain some of the more pleasant hippie feel in the sense that this is an extremely easy going and very laid-back American city.
Those laid-back attitudes towards life seem to be alive and well living side by side with a modern commercial and tourist town that has a lot to offer visitors.
Like its sister city to the south, Los Angeles, many of the sights of San Francisco are familiar to TV viewers and movie fans around the world.
The City's most famous sight is of course the Golden Gate Bridge, and no self-respecting tourist should dream of visiting San Francisco without getting behind the wheel and making the short drive across San Francisco Bay.
Another more infamous but just as popular attraction in the city was the home to the world's most famous criminal for many years, Al Capone. Out in the bay you will find the world's most famous prison, Alcatraz. Every day tourists wander down it's hallways and stare into the mental darkness of the cells that once held America's most famous criminals including the "Bird man of Alcatraz".
The world famous Fisherman's Wharf offers tourists some of the finest seafood restaurants to be found anywhere in America. Nearby is a genuine piece of American history at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park with its wonderfully preserved fleet of ships.
Almost miraculously the city has managed to preserve over 500 blocks of its Victorian houses that cling precariously to ridiculously steep hills. Here you can tour the famous original "Nob Hill" where the rich of the 19th century would sit in their palatial homes looking down on the ordinary people in the city below.
All of the houses are wonderfully restored having survived many earthquakes including the devastating effects of the fire and earthquake that rocked the city in 1906.
During the Gold Rush and the railway building era vast numbers of Chinese people made the perilous journey across the Pacific arriving in San Francisco looking for a better life. Their descendants are still in the city and have created the largest Chinese community outside of Asia.
The city's Chinatown district offers a taste of the exotic East in the west of America with Pagoda Gates adorned with dragons and the ever present aroma of an incredible array of ethnic Chinese and Asian cuisine.
San Francisco offers visitors a very rich and diverse cultural experience with a multitude of museums and galleries as well as a general artistic leaning found in abundance in the city.
No tour of California would be complete without spending a few days exploring the incredible opportunities that San Francisco can give any modern adventurer.
