San Francisco has always been on my to-go list and I am so happy that I can now say I’ve been! Ewan’s parents were travelling around California at the same time as us, so we aligned schedules and met them at the Cliff House on Wednesday for lunch. You are supposed to be able to get good views of the Golden Gate Bridge from the area, but the weather was seriously foggy so there was absolutely zero visibility. We were staying in Sausalito (at a gorgeous hotel thanks to Ewan’s parents) which meant that we had to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge to get there. This is all we could see from it!
Because of the foggy weather, we decided to stay over in Sausalito for the afternoon instead of driving back into San Francisco. The hotel offered complimentary bikes so we had fun cycling around the area.
For dinner, we decided to check out the restaurant attached to the hotel, Frantoio. They offer gluten free pasta and I had the most incredible rabbit ragu dish, I haven’t had pasta as good as that since Frings in Toronto.
The hotel had an outdoor fire pit so we spent the rest of the evening sitting and enjoying the warmth of the flames while making complimentary s’mores – or marshmallows sandwiched between chocolate for me! Yum.
The next morning, we enjoyed our hotel hot breakfast (which is seriously a luxury for us now after all of our budget motels) and drove into the city. I hadn’t expected this to be the case, but San Fran is a very drivable place. The traffic was minimal and there are a multitude of free parking spaces all over the city. We were able to see Lombard Street, Ghirardelli Square, Fishermans Wharf and the beautiful sea lions at Pier 39 all while parking for free nearby!
When our bellies started to rumble, we drove to the Ferry Terminal as Ewan had heard how pretty the area was. He was right, it was such a gem! There’s a big water feature in the square that you can walk through, and lots of nice little cafes and boutique shops inside the Ferry Terminal itself.
While exploring all the stalls, I found a 100% gluten free artisan bakery called Mariposa that sold a little of everything. All their offerings looked insane: cherry danishes, bagels, cinnamon buns, avocado on toast… I could go on and on. Eventually I decided on a cheese and ham pocket and it was SO good. It did not have the dryness of normal gluten free pastry at all!
Chinatown and Union Square are within easy walking distance from the Ferry Terminal, so we checked both of those areas out next. I’ve been to many Chinatowns and I think San Fran’s may be my favourite! Union Square was a cool, buzzing place for shopping and people watching. We took a streetcar from Union Square back to the Ferry Terminal before heading on to the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre.
The Palace doesn’t look like much from the road, but this is an absolutely gorgeous place to visit if you’re in the San Francisco area. There are intricate, roman-esque structures and sculptures to see and it’s all free to visit. It’s especially beautiful on a sunny day! Inside the main building are a few exhibits and lots of games to play like table tennis and jenga. We played the bean bag toss like in San Diego and I won, again. I really should start a team when I’m back in the UK. Any takers? No?
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a vantage point for the Golden Gate Bridge and took lots of great pictures. Ewan’s Mum is a yogi and her yoga group take pictures of themselves doing poses when they go on vacation. I especially enjoyed watching Ewan squirm in embarrassment as his mother did a bridge pose (basically a crab to non-yogis like me) on the ledge with the view of the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Brilliant.
Dinner was at my favourite place, The Cheesecake Factory. I went for my old faithful – chicken and roasted garlic gluten free pasta and a slice of Godiva chocolate cheesecake for pudding. It was as delicious as ever but I definitely overate and felt ill and full for the next two days. Note to self: must one day learn to eat in moderation.
We spent our final day in San Francisco exploring Golden Gate Park, after a brief pit stop at Alamo Square to see the Painted (or really not that painted to be honest) Ladies.
Golden Gate Park is another place that’s easy to drive to and free to park in, but most of the attractions inside the park come with a fee. For $9 each, we went inside the very pretty but tiny Japanese Tea Gardens for a cup of green tea. Inside the Tea Gardens is a very steep bridge that you just can’t climb over without taking a photo! We had planned to rent bikes in the park but the park isn’t actually very bike accessible, as a lot of the paths prohibit cycling. We walked around instead and moved the car if we needed to go a long distance – much easier!
We headed back over Golden Gate Bridge for the rest of the afternoon and visited the beautiful Muir Woods. I think it’s fair to say that I’ve been spoiled recently by stunning national parks, and while Muir Woods didn’t blow me away, it was still a lovely place to walk around and feel at one with nature.
For any coeliacs visiting Muir Woods, we stopped at Dipsea Cafe on the way there for a bite and they had a few good gluten free options. I had a salad with a few modifications and it was very tasty. They also have lots of gluten free breakfast items. Also not too far away is Pacific Catch, our dinner venue for our last night with Ewan’s parents in California. They have a great menu for coeliacs and loads of options to suit multiple tastes. After our delicious Poke dinner near The Madonna Inn, I was hungry for more Hawaiian, so I went for a selection of Poke dishes served with seaweed salad and tortilla chips. It wasn’t served like I had expected but it was really flavourful and filling!
I’d definitely love to come back to San Francisco and fit in all the things we didn’t do this trip, like Alcatraz! We had such a great few days though and I was very sad to leave Ewan’s parents on the last day. However it was weird to say ‘See you in a couple weeks’ to them as we left…. AS IF we have less than 2 weeks until we land back in London! Where the hell has the time gone?!
Gluten Free Piggy 