It is named after the pelicans that inhabited the island when the spanish arrived in the 18th centrury. They gave it the name, meaning ‘Island of Pelicans’.

We are talking about the island just outside San Francisco in the bay, where the most dangerous American prisoners were detained since the prison was opened in 1934. Build as a fortress, this 500 m long island surrounded by dangerious sea, was a perfect prison.

In the years till it was closed in 1963 there were 36 escape attempts and 15 of the escapees were killed while trying to get away.

Today we met the cells of Alcatras nobilities like Al Capone, George «Machine Gun Kelly» and Alvin «Creepy» Karpis.

A beautiful day at a scaring place. Not so scaring, but quite challenging was the art exhibition of the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, himself in detention in China. The portraits of people fighting with their lives for freedom and justice, were impressive. Not least that they were made up of lego toy bricks.