A Holiday Weekend in San Francisco

We take a short break from memories of this year's trip to Cinque Terre to visit San Francisco over a December weekend just before the holidays.  Our first stop is Union Square to see the Winter Wonderland set up in the square, admire the tree, and view the windows in Macy's Department Store and other stores around the square.

Macy's windows

Pets available for adoption in the windows

Union Square tree

It's SantaCon in San Francisco today, a tradition that began in Copenhagen in 1974 and arrived in San Francisco in 1994.  The streets are filled with people dressed as Santa, exploring the city and visiting the bars.

SantaCon

Tree and windows

Ice skating in the Winter Wonderland

Leaving Union Square, we spot the lights on Maiden Lane and the displays of Nieman Marcus, facing the square, across from the imaginative windows of Louis Vuitton, Cartier, and others

Sidestreets off Union Square

Nieman Marcus

Louis Vuitton

Cartier

Looking back at Union Square

In a few blocks, we reach the entrance to San Francisco's Chinatown, which is also decorated for the holiday.

Chinatown

A few blocks further, we pass the office building at 100 California Street, which has really put out the lights for the holiday.

100 California

In a nearby allyway, people are sitting on the sidewalk watching Let's Glow SF 2023, a project to show visual art on the side of the building across the street.

Let's Glow SF

As we walk, we notice that the trollys and fire stations are also all decorated for the holidays.

Ready for the holidays

As the sun sets, we head over to Kokkari Estiatorio for a fabulous dinner starting with appetizers of gigantes beans and fresh dungeness crab spread, followed by branzino, sole, and pork shoulder roasted in the rotisserie in the fireplace across the room.

Sunset in San Francisco

Kokkari Estiatorio 

Appetizers

Main courses

The next morning, we rise and take a stroll through the city before heading home, spotting more great decorations among the fantastic San Francisco scenery on the streets and along the harbor.

Building decorations

Harbor traffic

It's been a fabulous weekend in San Francisco, a city that never fails to delight.

Hiking Coniglia to Manarola

We decide to take another hike over the trails along the Mediterranean, starting in Corniglia and following the path to Manarola, passing through the small village of Volastra on the way.  We catch a train to Corniglia and walk up the the 382 steps into town.

View of train station from top of steps

The trail heads up for a while as we get glimpses of Corniglia and the Mediterranean, soon reaching the ridge we will follow along the sea.

Heading up

View up the coast toward Monterosso

Continuing up

View back from higher up

Looking down on Corniglia

As the trail reaches the ridge, it levels off (somewhat) and we continue along the Mediterranean.

Continuing along the ridge

Looking back at Corniglia and Monterosso

We turn a corner and are hiking through the middle of vineyards, with people picking grapes next to us as we march along.

Around the corner, vineyards

Filling the bins with grapes

We continue through the vineyards, soon reaching the small town of Volastra, from which we will descend to Manarola.

Continuing through the vineyards

Glimpses of Manarola

Gathering the grapes in Volastra

Descending to Manarola

We reach the road and follow it into Manarola, where we catch the train to the next town, Riomaggiore, for lunch at a favorite restaurant in the harbor, dau Cila, where we dine on spaghetti with mussels, fish ravioli  (with butter, anchovy sauce, potatoes, and onion cream), and black tagliolini with fish ragu, fresh tomatoes, and olives.

Following the road into town

Picking grapes along the road

Passing through Manarola

Riomaggiore harbor

Lunch

After lunch, we walk up the path along the harbor and watch all the activity with kayaks, swimming, diving, and many more ways of having fun on and in the water.

Fun on the water in the harbor

Looking back at Riomaggiore and up the coast to Monterosso

Another great day of exploration and adventure in Cinque Terre!