San Francisco – Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
Old silos along the San Francisco Bay
Our route from Candlestick Point to the Embarcadero was through some of the least desirable neighborhoods of San Francisco. At one point we stopped and Tom took some photos of an old concrete building.
(Click on the images for larger versions)
In the city, we parked in the Howard Street Car Park. They have a good deal for patrons of the Farmers Market – $5 all day until 6 pm.
The walk from the car park to the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero was as absorbing as usual. Lots of joggers around plus a few homeless souls. Mostly though the walkers were either going to or coming back heavily laden from the Farmers Market.
We were on the lookout for breakfast of course. At the entrance to the Farmers Market was a stall selling several breakfast items but at $9 for an egg sandwich, served on a paper plate, seemed a bit steep. Tom made his way to Peet’s for coffee while I meandered round a bit trying a few of the free samples. For starters I had a piece of bread dipped in olive oil. At the next stall I tried a few pieces of cheese and then at a third stall I had a piece of juicy Naval orange.
I joined Tom in Peet’s. He had his usual black coffee and I had hot chocolate. We sat outside on a seat overlooking
The Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco
the bay and enjoyed the view and the sunshine. A pigeon and a blackbird were eying the scone Tom was eating and waiting for the crumbs to fall.
We then took a tour of the market, bought a herb slab at Acme Bread and some rather special goat cheese at the Achadinha Cheese Company stall. The cheese was called Capricious and it won Best in Show at the American Cheese Society’s annual contest in 2002. Finally we bought a couple of large Naval oranges. We sat for a while, broke off bits of the bread and goat cheese and watched the world go by. What a wonderful breakfast. The bread was soft and the cheese was delicious and it was half the price of the egg sandwiches we were contemplating earlier. Who would want to be anywhere else on such a perfect day?
Inside the beautifully restored Ferry Building
Afterwards we went into the Ferry Building to check out the shops. We didn’t hang around there long as the place was heaving. What we did do though was to exit the building and climb the stairs outside to the second floor. There it was very quiet and peaceful but we could look down to the crowds below on the ground floor. A good tip for anyone wanting to use the restroom – ladies don’t stand in line for twenty minutes on the ground floor but climb to the second floor where there are two large restrooms which are hardly used.
Back on the Embarcadero we carried on walking north. Just past the Pier 1 building, we turned towards the bay. Tom wandered to the end of the pier to take photos and I found a convenient bench in the sun to catch up with my writing. The promenade has a green, wrought iron railing with a brass rail at the water’s edge and attached to the whole length are plaques with quotes about San Francisco. Tom and I have cycled along here – see this earlier post . Today though I was distracted from my writing by a crew of two men meticulously cleaning the brasswork. It is fascinating to watch people working, when you are sitting in the sunshine with time to spare.
It was time to make our way back to the car park. We crossed the Embarcadero and sauntered through the various craft stalls between the Embarcadero and Market Street. We then turned left and walked down Steuart to the car park on Howard.
January 11 2009 | Special Places | No Comments »
