A San Francisco Treat : Travel Feature

San Francisco was the city that thousands of people flocked to during the original “Summer of Love” in 1969 to “turn on, tune in and drop out” and perhaps that’s why it maintains a laid back feel today. No-one seems to be in a hurry, except for the tourists, trying to cram in everything that there is to see here.

Apart from the laid-back way of life, the other thing you notice soon after arriving here is the geography of the area. Hills are everywhere here and although it’s a compact city to walk around, the hills can be exhausting. What may only appear a couple of blocks away on the map can become a hike that leaves you gasping for breath if you end up having to head up one of the city’s infamous hills.

For exactly that reason, it’s a good idea to make Lombard Street one of your first stops. Head to the top of Lombard Street and then walk down the world’s most crooked street. With a 27° incline, if you do decide to try and struggle your way up this road, then spare a thought for vehicles. The eight twists and turns had to be added in the 1920s to lessen the gradient, so that cars could use this street. These days, it’s somewhere that any visitor with a car should make a beeline for. Nearly every car you see going down Lombard Street has passengers on board with cameras or video cameras in hand. Pedestrians can make their way down – or up if you’re feeling very active – on the steps at the side of the street.

If you don’t have a car to experience Lombard Street – and with the sky high parking charges in San Francisco, that’s no bad thing – you can even turn your journey there into a tourist attraction, by using San Francisco’s unique cable car system. First launched in 1873, the cable cars were developed to help deal with the amazingly steep hills in the city. Working on a system of moving cables that run under the ground, the real star on each car is the gripman. He's the one who starts and stops the cars, requiring a lot of strength and good reflexes. It’s perhaps not surprising that only a third of candidates pass the training course.

These days there are three lines, two of which start off from the turntable at Powell and Market Streets, to the south of downtown, by Union Square. Both take you up towards the Fisherman’s Wharf area. The other line runs east to west through the Financial District and Chinatown. Both routes offer plenty of sights along the way, as well as helping to get visitors around the city and, for the bravest, there’s added excitement from jumping on board, standing on the boards and clinging on to the poles on the outside of the car. It’s something that everyone should experience on their trip to the city.