Today, San Francisco is a dynamic, international city with approximately 764,000 inhabitants. The San
Francisco Bay Area, which includes the city of San Francisco and other cities on the coast, is home to
over seven million people.
Even since the days of the Golden Rash, San Francisco has been a friendly, open-minded city. Tourism
is the city’s biggest business with more than 16 million visitors each year. It is an important cultural and
educational center with many famous museums, concert halls and fine schools.
San Francisco is unique in many ways. One of its most unusual characteristics is its foggy, windy
summers, when temperatures don’t usually above 15°C. The good climate means that homeless people
have come to San Francisco from all over the nation because they are able to live outdoors.
The streets of San Francisco climb up and down 43 hills. Visitors love driving down these streets.
In 1873 Andrew Hallidie, an engineer, created a special transportation system, the cable car, which is one
of the city’s biggest attractions.
Since San Francisco is at the tip of a peninsula water is never far away. The ocean and the bay are too
cold and full of sharks for the most swimmers, but sailing and wind-surfing are popular sports thanks to
the strong west wind.
Fisherman’s Wharf is another very popular area with boats, restaurants, seafood stalls, shops and
street performers. You can also visit the amazing Aquarium of the Bay and walk through its long acrylic
tunnels under the way and see more than 20,000 marine animals.
At the Wharf there are ferry boats that take you to Alcatraz Island, which was opened in 1934 as a
maximum security prison for America’s most dangerous criminals. No prisoner has ever successfully
escaped from Alcatraz because of the icy waters of the bay. There was one guard for every three
prisoners and each prisoner had a tiny prison cell by himself. Al Capone, the Chicago gangster, was kept
in this prison.
To sum it up, San Francisco is a modern city with its rich history and amazing nature. I think that this
place is worth visiting.
