San Francisco

San Francisco is located in the state of California and has a population of 815,000 people. It was founded in 1776 by Spanish conquerors and became a city in 1850.

SFfromTIWithBridges

The city has more than 50 hills and due to its position on the Pacific east coast, it is often foggy and has cool winds blowing.


San Francisco is divided into several neighbourhoods, which are home to large immigrant communities such as in Chinatown and North Beach. The South of Market neighbourhood was the city's old industrial centre and is now home to many Web 2.0 companies who work in the new skyscrapers.

SF Chinatown CA

Whilst it is easy to walk around the city, many people like to use the cable car system to travel around the streets.

11 Cable Car on Powell St crop, SF, CA, jjron 25.03.2012

It's famous landmarks include:
  • Union Square which is the central shopping and theatre district;

  • the Maritime National Historical Park which includes a fleet of historic vessels and a maritime museum;
San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park
  • the Golden Gate Bridge which was opened in 1937 and is 2824 metres long;
GoldenGateBridge-001
  • Pier 39 which has: restaurants, an aquarium and a fun fair;
Pier 39, SF, CA, jjron 26.03.2012
  • Fisherman's Wharf which has lots of seafood restaurants selling the local Dungeness crab and is a good place for watching sea lions;
Crabs at Fisherman's Wharf
  • Alcatraz which was a maximum security prison until 1963 but it today a museum;
Alcatraz Island 1, SF, CA, jjron 25.03.2012
  • Golden Gate Park which is over three miles long and has: a stadium, a conservatory of flowers, a Japanese tea garden and many lakes;
SF Conservatory of Flowers 3
  • Treasure Island which is a man-made island named after the famous novel and is popular with photographers.
Treasure island from yerba buena