The Rock

Finally we got round to visit one of the best known attraction of San Francisco, Alcatraz Island.

This little rock in the middle of the bay has a long and fascinationg history.

First used by the army which built a fort on the island, it later became a military prison. It was America's "gangster era" (during the the of the time of prohibition in the USA, approx. 1920-33) which raised the peoples's demand for a maximum-security prison for the most dangerous and faulty criminals. However, just a couple of the 1545 prisoners who did time on the island were notorious, the most famous ones were "Al" Capone, "Machine Gun" Kelly and Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz".

For everyone who's interested in the fascinating of the island, especially of the prison can find additional information here and here or google it themselves.

We took the first ship to the island, at 9.00 am, with this "early bird" trip you can make sure that the place isn't that crowded.

Once on the island you can walk around without guide, in the prison you can get an audio guide for free and make an intriguing tour through the building and discover the cells, recreation yard, library, dining room and much more.

Here you have some pictures:

Cells in the main tract (remember "The Rock" with Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage)

"Inmate" walking around at the recreation yard during the weekly hour outside. :-)

The cell of one of the three famous escapees, who successfully fled from the rock and since then never have been seen again. In the picture you see the dummy head which fooled the prison warder. Also notice the hole in the back of the cell and the improvised piece of wall to hide it.  Here you find a summary of the thrilling story of them (and here the FBI report :D).

That's the view you have from the island, prisoners could see the city, just out of reach.