Let's become a tourist in Sydney

Hello my dearest friends and followers,

As I promised, here comes a post on Sydney’s most touristy and scenic places. It all starts at The Rocks, the city’s first settlement and where all began. From there we’ll walk along the shore, enjoying the most spectacular views that made this city so famous and well-liked.
Let’s go!

The Rocks, a step back in time. History was written here.

I guess that’s why they call it The Rocks…

On the way to the observatory, the first encounter with the jewel of the crown: the Sydney Harbour Bridge

All along the fence.

View of North Sydney.

Solidarity amongst brothers.

The bridge from underneath.

Concrete walls, no beauty.

Some of the “old” houses.

Apparently Sydney’s first house. I still don’t believe it.

View of the CBD getting to Circular Quay.

First eye contact with the second jewel of the crown.

The MCA, good art for free as it should be!

Let’s sit down for a while and rest our feet with the seagulls.

Tourist meeting point par excellence.

One more time, a full view from the other side.

Another famous building, sorry I forgot the name of it…

When you depart Sydney by plane, if you’re lucky, they offer you the most stunning view one last time.

And this is what happens when you travel on your own. You see yourself forced to take horrendous self-portraits like this one.

Despite all they might say, I really think this is a masterpiece of art in modern architecture.

The Royal Botanical Gardens with one of the enourmous eucalyptus trees, although unfortunately no koalas here…

They actually urge you to walk on the grass (just like in France…), Australia is a great country…

…with the most impressive flora…

… and obviously fauna. These cockatoos are the funniest of all, but extremely loud when pissed off.

Don’t jump or you’ll be fined!

On a cloudy day, the best possible postcard of both jewels together.

The wonderful walk along the shore.

Crossing The Domain, until we reach the Art Gallery of New South Wales, more quality art for free!

And on the way back to the bus home, one final shot of one of Syndey’s most imposing churches, St Mary’s Cathedral.

Glad we sorted the tourist stuff out, I must say, all in all, Sydney is a stunningly beautiful city and even the tourist walks are well worth the effort. I hope you enjoyed the visit as much as I did. This will probably be my last post on Sydney, since I am departing to Cairns in four days, so be sure to check in for some rainforest and reef pictures soon!

Oh and once again, many thanks for all the birthday wishes, mother nature was merciful and gave me the best present ever: a beautiful warm and sunny day with a swim in the ocean! Life can be wonderful even when you turn 27!

Lots of love!

Hasta la próxima!

M

Getting downtown: Sydney's Central Business District

G'day my dear friends,
Now that I’m about to leave this place soon, I felt that it was about time to finally post something about the city in which I’ve been living in for a little while. Not the suburb of Bondi, not the beach, just simply Sydney, Australia’s biggest and most populated city and a key point of finance, culture and all kinds of other happenings in the southern hemisphere.
Here we go:

Let’s start with the Central Business District (or CBD), which is basically being taken over by what used to be Chinatown. Asians rule this part of the city with a more than notable presence especially of people with Chinese origins.
Here lower Pitt street, a block away from where I work.

Facades are very protected here, so when a building is demolished or refurbished, they usually keep it’s front and just build the back.

Entering one of the most popular streets in proper Chinatown, very obviously visible.

They came and settled, but they came in peace.

And they sell the craziest things, from hyper pink stuffed animals…

… to pop music, movies and posters of their own star system.

We exit in a very philosophical way.

The CBD is transited by the monorrail, a reminiscence of what used to be modern in the past. It’s loud, slow and expensive and nobody knows exactly where it takes you, yet one must admit it has a certain flare and uniqueness.

If it’s approaching, you can miss it’s squeaking noises above your head.

Here we go!

Many things are different in Australia and so are famous corporate names. Here, Burguer King is called Hungry Jack’s.

One of the main culinary attractions in the city centre, the Spanish Quarter.

Spanish tapas, flamenco and music are very popular (there's even a restaurant called El Bulli), but I’m afraid Spanish here doesn’t necessarily mean “from Spain”, it’s basically everything that comes from Spanish speaking countries.

The famous Town Hall, once a majestic building, now surrounded but much taller and imposing skyscrapers.

How many cities do you know that would put up a gay flag on their most official building? Yes, Sydney is the biggest gay city in the southern hemisphere.

And yes, they drive on the “wrong” side of the street.

Statue of Queen Victoria in front of Queen Victoria Building, one of the most beautiful shopping malls I’ve ever seen.

Fancy and very elegant interiors for one of the oldest buildings in town.

Old advertising and the Sydney Tower in the back.

Also known as AMP Tower and with an altitude of 309m it offers the best view of Sydney’s downtown.

Back to Pitt street, the main shopping stroll in the city. Here you can find everything you need, in a few weeks even some Spanish fashion, since Zara is about to open their first store in Australia.

On the other side and close to the famous Paddy Markets we can find Darling Harbour, a nice neighborhood where one can find the Casino, IMAX Theatre and many more attractions.

Look over Sydney’s CBD from the bridge leading to the Powerhouse Museum.

Belmore Park, next to Central Station, a nice and quiet spot to relax from the busy city life.

And with all the weirdest animals in Australia, this one is quite interesting, they are everywhere around the city and are Sydney’s equivalent to our pigeons.

So far so good, this is pretty much all you can find in the city centre. It is not my favourite part of the city at all, it’s quite impersonal and business ruled, so besides offices and shopping strolls there is not much to do.
Next time I’ll give you an input of the tradional parts of the city that host its most famous attractions: The Harbour Bridge and the Opera house.

That’s all folks!
Take good care,
Big hug from down south!
M