Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 326 13–26 August 2016 middle of the city, and it’s a cool reprieve from the hot San Francisco day. It’s like no stand of gum trees in Australia — vibrantly green, with ivy winding high up the trunks. Through the forest we descend along ridgelines, emerging onto rocky, open knolls with varying angles on the city view. People climb the paths towards us, walking with six or seven dogs. “Because of the tech boom and so many young people here, we have more dogs than children in this city,” Alexandra says, before we descend a final stairway back into Castro. Adjoining Castro is the Mission, one of San Francisco’s oldest and most interesting neighbourhoods, and it’s here that another walking tour unveils a different flavour to the city. The Mission contains San Francisco’s oldest building, one of its most beloved parks, and supposedly the highest concentration of murals in the US. It has also become affectionately known as the “gourmet ghetto” in recognition of its transformation from one of the city’s no-go crime zones to arguably its most cutting-edge food district. Avital Tours’ Mission District Food Tour is a walk that focuses on bites rather than bytes, creating a progressive meal on foot through the streets of the Mission. My guide is Russian-born, San Francisco-raised Ida, who proudly traces her roots back to a Russian murderer. It’s a fitting lineage, she says, given the Mission’s one-time reputation for violence. “Fifteen years ago you wouldn’t have walked around here,” Ida says. “It was scary.” The Mission’s shabby-chic rebirth began in the 1990s. Its seed was a restaurant, the Slanted Door, with its modern Vietnamese cuisine enticing a new breed of clientele into the Mission. What followed was all but a food phenomenon, with TripAdvisor now listing almost 500 restaurants in the district. Almost every restaurant and cafe here has a twist on flavours (fancy a specialty cheese restaurant or a ham and oyster bar?) and on this walk we eat at four of them. There are soft tacos cooked in beer and tequila, sausage muffins with soft-boiled eggs inside, and French-toast- flavoured gelato, all earned through effort. But the walk isn’t just about food. Ida guides us past the Mission’s many murals and deep into its long history. Its oldest building, the Mission Dolores, from which the The Mission District Food Tour stops outside the Women’s Building Call for your free brochure 1300 792 195 gocollette.com ABN: 32 600 161 671 I AFTA Allied Member The Best In Worldwide 4-star Touring Let Collette Take Care of You From Start To Finish