Beautiful Bay Area

Really enjoying our time in San Francisco. We're being well looked after by Kevin & Michelle and also managed to catch up with some dear San Francisco-based friends we originally met during Covid lockdown in Paihia! 

Staying in San Rafael so there is no need for a weather report, it's sunny every day! We took a lovely walk on Mt Tamalpaias that was full of dappled shade and little stream beds - all still green in the valley but bone dry in the wide open areas.

Always nice to take a walk along the Sausalito waterfront and wander amongst  the houseboats.

Check out the houseboat mail boxes.   

Spent time revisiting old haunts, the rustic live bait shop at Loch Lomond still going strong with its resident seabirds waiting for a bite.

An easy ride from Larkspur Landing on the ferry across to big smoke. As we left Larkspur Landing we had a bird's-eye view of San Quentin prison!

Cold breeze the day we went to the city and fog shrouded the golden gate bridge from view.

By the time we hit the city the sun was trying to make an appearance.

We set off to explore the POPOS, privately owned public open spaces, to see the city from up high on  rooftop gardens. 

Our first stop was to the roof garden at 343 Sansome Street. 

The doorman lets you know which lift to take and off you go. We were the only ones there and had fantastic views of the city, the triangle building and through a gap in the sky scrapers, a glimpse of the sea. 

The garden and seating areas were immaculately maintained. Then we wandered on towards Union Square via China town.

Lunch in Chinatown was underwhelming, maybe we picked the wrong pot sticker joint!

Onwards we went to Union Square.

Enroute we passed all the fancy schmancy boutique shops, think Cartier, Harry Winston, Bulgari, Chanel, Vera Wang.  The Harry Winston diamonds in the window displays were amazing.....but who buys that stuff?

Seemed strange to see people openly rolling joints and smokin em in public, we're not in New Zealand anymore Dorothy :)

Our next rooftop spot was at 1 Kearny Street (enter through 23 Geary Blvd, doorman will sign you in) and up to the 11th floor. Again we had it all to ourselves and it provided stunning views over the city and down to Market Street 

Market Street and downtown by the ferry terminal had really cleaned up it's act since our visit two years ago, we didn't see one homeless person or tents like we did last visit. 

Back down to earth and Market Street was remarkably quiet for a business day. On previous visits this street was full of traffic, buses, taxis, pedestrians ... not this time.

The architecture of the city is a glorious blend of new and old - love it all.

Final city roof garden stop was Salesforce Park just south of Market Street. 

This garden runs over four blocks and has stunning plantings, waterfalls, fountains, shady nooks and crannies for city office workers to have lunch, a perimeter walking track and lots of free events and music over the summer months. It's awesome to be walking above ground, encircled by skyscrapers and hear so much birdsong in the garden. 

It even has a gondola to take you up to the garden from street level, pretty nifty.

The park appears to be floating amongst the city tower blocks. 

Back to San Rafael by ferry and a little mooch around Tiburon - so many bay /shoreline areas to enjoy here, it's great.

Larkspur ferry landing has a cute little shopping area to grab a coffee on your way to/from the ferry and it also has a fish pond with the biggest carp I've ever seen up close and a lovely turtle family ...at least they looked like mum, dad and the kids :)

Having a marvellous time with family and friends here in San Francisco. Feel blessed and thankful to have the time to really connect rather than be rushing with in- transit/short visit limitations.

San Francisco next stop

And we're off again! On June 12 we left Porto on the first flight out 04.55am and as we flew to Lisbon we caught  the sunrise 👌

After a few hours on the ground in Lisbon we then took our next flight to San Francisco.  After such an early start to our travel day I felt the guy sitting opposite with the VR head set had the right idea!

Overall not a bad flight and magical to fly over the Sierra Nevada and see the still snow capped peaks.

Lovely to be met at San Francisco airport by my brother and then get whisked over to San Rafael for family time. Driving over the Golden Gate bridge never fails to thrill, such an iconic design and engineering feat.

Spotted a mother deer with two fawns in the garden, so cute and they were not bothered by me taking their picture. Amazing  to see them come down from the hills into domestic neighbourhoods. Unfortunately they were nibbling at newly planted shrubs, enjoying the tender tips and flower buds, yum yum!

California has it all, sunshine, beaches, bays, gardens and parks, galleries, theatre,  vineyards and much much more. It's hot already and you can see the  vegetation is drying off fast. 

Had a lovely day out in Healdsburg on a hiking trail. We learned to watch out for poison Ivy and ticks 😬. At the summit there was a stunning view across the vineyards to the Russian river. 

After a spot of exercise it was time to beat a retreat to a shady spot for a picnic. Dry Creek Vineyard was the perfect spot - stunning venue, beautiful gardens, picnic tables outside, a super helpful friendly team and lovely wines.

A good time was had by all. 

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Watch this space, more to come from San Francisco soon. 

Cangas & Moana

We ventured overseas the last couple of days - D.I.Y mini cruises  🙂. Over two days we took the  local ferries across the bay to the seaside villages of Cangas and Moana. The day we went to Cangas it was warm enough but there was a heavy sea fog and the sun struggled to break through.

The sea was as flat as a pancake as the little ferry glided across the bay to Cangas. When alongside the ocean,  or on the ocean,  as a bit of a lark we attempt a high pitched squeal/squeak  to call in the dolphins. We tried it and didn't see any dolphins and then I kid you not, the captain popped out of the wheel house not 5 mins later and pointed out a pod of dolphins frolicking in the bay. Coincidence or our super dolphin calling powers? 

 As we left the estacion maritime there were not one but two big cruise ships lined up. The old town would be heaving! We made the right decision to go to Cangas that day for sure.

Cangas has an old fashioned,  charming waterfront. It's livelihood depends on the mussel farms and fishing industry so there was plenty of boat action in the tidy little marinas.

It was like stepping back in time as we wandered along the waterfront and explored the back lanes. It was super quiet, no cruise boat passengers had made the trip over the bay, just locals doing their daily pottering about.

 The marina's have huge breakwater walls to protect the fleet from when the Atlantic storms cut up rough. 

 

We found the old town church and it was another beauty - lots of icons and evocative statuary. We wondered how many churches/chapels/cathedrals Spain has, so we consulted Google. Fun fact -  there are approximately 22 thousand churches in Spain. 

The next day we took a different ferry to Moana. 

 Sunny skies for our jaunt across the bay to Moana, a perfect name for a mussel farming sea port - back home it would be kai moana. 

A statue of Neptune with his trident guarded the bay and looked out over the floating  mussel platforms. 

The mussel barges were busy going to and fro to collect the days sacks of mussels for processing in the plant alongside the port.

We took a walk along the seafront and found a little fresh fish market.

The fresh squid for sale looked a bit different to the statue outside the market.

The fish looked so fresh. We watched two gorgeous senior ladies purchasing their fish and then instructing the lady quite specifically how they wanted it cut,  into small steaks not fillets 🙂.

Moana felt like the poor relation to Cangas. We didn't find the old town and most of the buildings were 1970's/80's basic blocks and not a pretty sight. We may have missed the old town but it was interesting none the less.On our return ferry ride ( think Devonport ferry, 15 mins travel time) there was a tug in the bay spraying water as a new cruise liner glided into the port. 

The  cruise liners were enormous, they dwarfed the ferry buildings. They looked like floating office blocks.  

So that's a wrap from our two days of mini cruising 🙂. Great to see the little working fishing villages of Cangas and Moana. A slow walk back to the hotel and siesta time followed. 

Amazing sunset over the harbour. Photo taken at 10.20pm! Our sleep patterns are all a bit out of kilter with the late sunsets.