Alcatraz and downtown San Francisco

After a well-deserved sleep-in and breakfast at a restaurant nearby, we walked to China Town. You couldn’t help yourself feeling like stranger here, but at the same time it was an interesting experience. After seeing Transamerican Pyramid we went to Lombard Street, the world’s most winding street. I would like to add the world’s steepest street as well! After walking uphill to the top, you could really feel how steep the street really was. Then we walked towards the wharf and took a Cable Car to Union Square. We found a cozy restaurant and had lunch. After lunch we took the Cable Car back to the wharf.

We walked to Fisherman’s Wharf and did some window shopping. We started walking towards Pier 33 which the ferry towards Alcatraz departed from. We had pre-booked this tour since it’s very popular and sells out days in advance. We felt it would be nice to have something to do in the evening as well so we had booked an Evening Tour.

It took 10 minutes by ferry to get to the Alcatraz Island and it was mighty to see the prison IRL. When we disembarked the ferry there was an uphill slope (totally 40 vertical meters) before we got to the actual entrance of the prison. Once inside we all got our audio tour player with headphones that guided you around on your own. It was almost unreal to walk around in there and listen to actual prisoners that once served time here in Alcatraz. A few cells were put up and staged just as they were 50 years ago when the prison was still in use. It was also interesting to see the cells from where a few of the prisoners actually escaped. And as I understand they still haven’t found one of those escapers. It was dark outside when we embarked the ferry again and San Francisco’s illuminated skyline silhouette was amazing. Now we were tired and even though we took a taxi, it felt like ages before we came back to the hostel.