Thanks to its amenities, famous chilly summer fog and hills, San Francisco has appeared in numerous movies. So, take a camera with you, for the journey has just begun.
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If you are coming to the town from the east or the north you can't miss one of the city symbols: the Golden Gate Bridge, the symbol of San Francisco known in almost every part of the world. The statue of Joseph B. Strauss on the southeast side of the bridge is a reminder of the chief designer who made that modern world wonder reaching heights and distances never seen before in a bridge.
When you are on the bridge you can't miss Alcatraz, an island more famous by the endless list of movies filmed there than by its prisoners. The unfortunate home of Al Capone is a must destination for tourists. After a short boat ride and a guided tour, you can feel the deprivation that ruled here for 30 years but if you turn to the south you can enjoy beautiful view of the city skyline ahead of you.
If you follow the coastline from the bridge to the east, your next stop is Fisherman's Wharf. The home of San Francisco's fishing fleet for more than 100 years, now it is the home of many restaurants that offer the Dungeness crab, a specialty known far and away. Along with the crabs, restaurants offers dishes based on the seafood, prepared in traditional Italian ways, which you can eat enjoying the look on the bay or you can take it with you while discovering Cisco.
As you are entering the city you will see a unique blend of architecture and greenery. Victorian Ladies are the most beautiful houses in the city built in Victorian style and preserved as a cultural heritage which graces almost every street in the town, especially in Pacific Heighst, the Fillmore and the Haight. A glorious heritage that settlers from all parts of the world left to their town.
The Golden Gate Recreational Area is one of the largest city parks in the world. Dolores Park, Buena Vista Park, Lincoln Park and Harding Park, along with more than 200 smaller parks and trees on streets, distinguish Cisco from other metropolises covered with concrete. Financial institutions and small bars, skyscrapers and small houses, businessmen and hippies, western culture and China town, San Francisco is the home to everybody.
Fifty hills with Mount Davidson as the tallest give Cisco a recognizable charm and, thanks to film industry, they strengthen its budget. Near the city centre there's Eureka Peak with Christmas Tree Point, a place from which you can see almost whole city and the Bay. And where there are hills, there are cable cars. You've seen them in every movie filmed in SF and you really should take a ride you will remember to the rest of your life.
Do you remember 60s, the ideology of living in the harmony with nature, a time of experimenting with music, drugs and stuff? The Haight district is the place where hippie movement was born in 1960s. The district was cheaper than other parts of the city and that attracted many young liberal people. Even today it is not unusual to see flowery dresses, long-haired men and barefoot children playing around just like they did at the time of Woodstock.
At the northern part of Cisco there's another attraction: Lombard Street. Set in the Russian Hills, that 120 meters long street is so steep that architects came to a unique idea: they made eight sharp turns to slow down vehicles. "The crookedest street in the world" (although some will argue that Vermont St. is entitled to that) is the home of expensive mansions and beautiful flowers along the road. Take steps to climb up and then enjoy a wonderful view on the one of the largest cities on the West Coast. ■
