Click for San Francisco, California Forecast
 

San Francisco  - Population: 750,000 
(Metro 6,000,000) 
 
Resting on 40 hills at the tip of a narrown peninsula, San Francisco is bounded on one side by the Pacific Ocean and on the other by San Francisco Bay, one of the largest land-locked harbours in the world. the city's history began with the early Portuguese,English and Spanish explorers who sailed into the bay. In 1775 a Spanish ship dropped anchor on 28 March 1776. A mission site was selected and dedicated to St Francis of Assis. 
In 1849 gold was discovered in California. As the news spread around the world, a torrent of people and ships descended on the city. By the next year 6,000 miners were digging and San Francisco was a wild tent city of 2,000 rough, tough transients. 
 
Some far-sighted businessmen realised that fortunes could be made in San Francisco as well as in the gold camps. Mercantile establishments, small industries and the shipping of goods to the Orient prospered. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Then on 18 April 1906 struck the great earthquake and fire. Raging unchecked for three days, the fire wiped out the entire business area and burned out 497 blocks - the heart of the city. Losses amounted to 500 lives and $350 million. the city started rebuilding before ashes cooled. by 1915, when the city celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, reconstruction was nearly complete. 
 
  
San Francisco leads the cities of the west in insurance and investment, but tourism is now its most important industry. San Francisco is such a beautiful, exciting city, it is easy to understand Rudyard Kipling's lament - "San Francisco has only one drawback, it's hard to leave." 
 
 
 
 
 
Places of Interest in San Francisco 
(click here for a map
 
Fisherman's Wharf 

Attracting millions of visitors annually, with its pungent smells and picturesque sights. Along the waterfront are many fine restaurants, markets, souvenir shops and import houses. 
  
 It's from this place that we left for Alcatraz, the famous prison. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
San Francisco from the boat
 
Arriving at Alcatraz
 
 
Golden Gate Bridge 
 
With an overall length of 2735m (8,981 feet) and main span lenght of 1280m (4,200 feet), it is one of the longest single-span suspension bridges ever built. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
the Bay Bridge
a view of the town from the Bay Bridge
 

The visit to the "Exploratorium"

 

 

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