City of endless stairs

There are just a scant few secret stairs in San Francisco when compared to the endless steps here.  And the narrow walkways and the secret cut throughs.  Labyrinthine is the only way to describe this city.  

Here is one we have yet to use.  It's down the hill from our apartment and may just be the detour to the other side of the urban canyon that we've been seeking.  

In the meantime this well trod stair takes us down to the street below where we can do some food shopping.  This is the top of the steps.

If you were to continue along this busy street here is a view of the staircase as seen from the ridge.

This one is going in the opposite direction, towards Opicina, from our apartment and leads to the most beautiful hidden but kind of funky neighborhood.  The backs of the buildings look out into a ravine with neatly tended gardens all overlooked by the neighborhoods on the hill across the canyon...so hard to explain and so unexpected.

Here's the walk into the ravine-like area.

Who knew this was down here? 

I'm so sorry the pictures can't show you where we walked.  And I am not good enough with words to describe it, but if I could have taken more adequate pictures and were at all eloquent, I'm certain this tiny corner of the world would charm even the most travel averse.  As we ambled along what I can only say might be akin to a nicer Sacramento alley, you could hear the sounds of the evening meal being prepared.  We even passed a family sitting around the table in their yard finishing dinner.  

The next few pictures are us as we wended our way along this tiny road.

Yes there were views of the other side of the urban arroyo.

Eventually we made our way across or through to the other side, had a gelato and headed back to the apartment.

Look for the cat sitting closer to the top.

Just a picturesque street.

Adam wanted me to take a picture of this very small garden made up of grapes and figs.

Some nearby stairs.

These are so steep I cannot imagine having to carry groceries up there but people here do.

The lights were just beginning to come on but I couldn't resist this last picture.