Panoramic view of San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge

The sweeping view you see of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge from the heights of Russian Hill is one of the most celebrated panoramas in the city. Russian Hill itself earned its name during the Gold Rush, when settlers discovered gravestones with Cyrillic inscriptions at the summit and assumed they belonged to Russian sailors. While you look out toward the bridge today, remember that this vantage point exists because of the hill’s extreme topography, which was formed by the same geological forces that eventually necessitated the bridge’s own complex engineering.