Beautiful, romantic San Francisco. Known for its quaint cable cars, hilly neighborhoods, the Golden Gate Bridge and Ghirardelli Square (and chocolate), San Francisco is one of the most-visited cities in the world.
A fort was created by the Spanish explorers at the Golden Gate in the year 1776. Included on the same site was a mission named in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. The population of the city remained small for almost 75 years, until the California gold rush of 1848, when the population went from 1,000 to 25,000 in only one year. This population explosion propelled San Francisco into the position of being the largest city on the west coast at that time. In less than 50 years more than 75% of the city was destroyed in the infamous fire and earthquake of 1906. The city recovered from the devastation so quickly that it was able to host the Panama-Pacific International Exposition just nine years later. During World War II San Francisco was the point of departure for American troops shipping off to join the Pacific theater of fighting.
San Francisco is an internationally lauded tourist destination San Francisco is a well-known cold summer fog, steep hills, amazing mix of Victorian with modern architecture and many famous points of interest such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown and cable cars.
The economy of San Francisco has prospered as a result of the IT industry located just south of the city in what is known as Silicon Valley combined with the emergence of the ‘Dot-Com’ industry. This boom has attracted affluent white collar workers as well as university graduates from all over the world to create a city with one of the highest standards of living in the world. San Francisco is one of the world’s greatest cities, and certainly worth a visit, either in person or virtually. Enjoy your stay!