San Francisco - The Islands
Angel Island
Angel Island is the largest Island in the San Francisco Bay area. It is reachable through the ferry service from the city Tiburon. The place served as an ‘immigration stop over’ station during the old days people flocked to America from Europe. You can take a tour of the old immigration station, and visit the museum there as well. The island also served as a great defense position off the coast for America during the second world war, and many garrisons were named after it. Apart from this, the island also had a prisoner of war prison, with a lot of Japanese prisoners over here. Angel Island is a great place to go relax for a day, with its convenient picnic spots, marvelous little beaches and the ferry coming just once in four hours keeps the place occupied only with serious visitors, no unnecessary crowds over here. The Island has just 12 miles of road all across it. Most of it is wild plant life and lots of small hills you can climb. Mount Livermore gives an awesome view of the city and the sea all around Angel Island. Most people who come here regret it if they don’t being along a picnic, because you are going to see a lot of great spots to relax, and the ferry comes once in four hours, remember? Anyway, once you visit the island, you will walk around and find a ‘favorite’ spot to sit down, and many tourists come back again to spend a well-planned day at their hideaway. You can post questions and leave comments as a tourist (about the island) at a special web site.
Alcatraz Island
Tha Alcatraz Island, just 12 acres of land and popularly known as the ‘rock’, was a maximum-security prison once, with people such as Al Capone himself serving time here. There’s a famous movie starring Clint Eastwood (Escape From Alcatraz), which is about the only escape ever made from the place! Today, the families of the prison security personnel, who had homes on the Island either live here or are part of the alcatraz island’s alumni association. So, you could visit the old prison if you are a tourist. The island also houses a lighthouse, maybe you’d want to check that out as well. You could visit the national park at Alcatraz, which is a beautiful place to visit for a picnic; you can spend a great day relaxing over here. Also check the next link for an interactive virtual tour of the island - if you don’t know what an interactive virtual reality tour is, then do check it out anyway!
If you are in the Bay Area and would like to see both the islands Alcatraz and Angel without wasting a minute, you could go for a five and a half hour tour – more details on http://www.blueandgoldfleet.com/.