Hi everyone!
Here we are again with another adventure. This time we had an incredible, yet scary experience and it had everything to do with a prison. Not just a prison, but the Alcatraz Federal Prison in San Francisco.
When you enter the city (which we did by boat, the ferry) than you can already see the island from far. We were in San Francisco for 4 days and we passed the island several times each day. WE JUST HAD TO VISIT THIS ISLAND, because you know… it not only draw our attention, but it is an island full of mystery and secrets. So why not give it a try?
We ordered the tickets online, but here you already have to be careful with the websites. We ordered them through the website: 'Alcatraz Tickets'. THIS IS THE WRONG ONE. The name is very similar to the real one: Alcatraz Cruises .
We ordered our tickets with the first one. We did get the tickets, that was not the problem, but they were more expensive than the real ones. This website/company orders tickets from the official Alcatraz in bulk so they can sell them again for a higher price. We had the tickets in time, but just for more money.
They said we had to be at the entrance/boat half an hour up front. When the time of your visit is displayed on the board, it’s your time to get in line! They check your tickets, you get a stamp (which was a smiley, kinda weird :) ), they take a photo of you in front of a big photo (so they can sell that to you afterwards) and then it’s time to get on the boat!
The boat trip only takes about 15 minutes and when you get there, everyone needs to gather around a person of the island for some rules and information of the island. When they explained everything, you can begin your visit!
There are lot’s of things on the island, like a small theater where they display a short movie, there is a discovery room where an art exhibition is displayed (when we were there, don’t know if that is temporarily or not), there is the prison itself with an audio tour and there are some other small houses with information and some gardens as well!
The audio tour is the highlight of the island. You will go into the prison and you get a pair of headphones. The audio tour takes you into cells, the library of the prison, the kitchen, explain the grant escapes attempts and many many more!
When walking there, we both got goose bumps and it was kinda weird to walk on the same grounds as Al Capone, ‘Machine Gun Kelly’ and many more criminals. The building was old and you could see every scratch, every hopeless attempt of those people wanted to get out, you hear the amazing stories of prisoners escaping the prison, even if Alcatraz was called ‘the unescapable prison’, they never found the escaped prisoners again…
After some stories and walking, we were (ofcourse) leaded towards the gift shop. We saw a lot of books, and we were really interested in them! The book that stood out the most was one of an Alcatraz prisoner. You can never guess: BUT HE WAS THERE HIMSELF. We bought his book and he even signed it for us. We met a person who survived the brutal and harsh Alcatraz…
What an amazing day.
We learned so much and we saw some incredible things. It was worth the extra dollars of the wrong website! :D
Tip for when you want to visit the prison: book your tickets in advance AND on the right website!
Enjoy your own mind-blowing visit one day!
Thanks for reading,
GLOBE WATCHERS
