Mission District

After the walk in Muir Woods we went to the Mission District one of the oldest areas of San Francisco. Visited the Mission Dolores established by the Spanish who made their way up from Mexico and established a settlement in the city and of course the first thing they had to do was build a church to convert the natives.

Speaking about the natives, every time we come across an area of outstanding natural beauty, you are almost bound to come across a casino that the poor Native Americans have been given in exchange for their beautiful land. Saleem and Joel are pictured on the right outside a replica of a willow hut which the indigenous people lived in at the time of the arrival of the Spanish.

 Throughout the Mission District walls are covered with beautiful murals created by the Chicano Art Mural Movement of the 1970s inspired by Diego Rivera








The Mission District has undergone a gentrification process over the last few decades and is home to the young, hip and trendy. Pictured on the right is a Synagogue in the area with a gay pride flag hanging from its window. Imagine seeing anything remotely similar in a South African synagogue!

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon and the parks were filled with young and old, sunbathing, picnicking, smoking pot, etc. and we drove past a couple probably in the late fifties/early sixties taking an afternoon stroll completely STARK NAKED! At first I thought they were wearing body suits because they were strolling hand in hand, walking past young families pushing their kids in strollers, people out walking their dogs and not a single person seemed to think that there was anything unusual about this couple walking around without any clothes on ......