Sydney in a day

Sydney is the largest and oldest city in Australia. Its popular landmarks and cosmopolitan culture attracts people from all over the world. During our Australia visit, we had two days in Sydney. The first day was spent in nearby Blue Mountains while the second day saw us visiting the city. 

Commute in the city

Before I start writing my experience, it is better to explain about commuting within the city. I had rented a car from Airport to Airport. It was convenient as our apartment was at the outskirts of the city and travelling on taxi would be more expensive than renting car. It also helped us a lot when we travelled to Blue Mountains. I did use car in the city but it would have been better if we had used public transport. Traffic was not an issue as it was a Sunday but parking garages have a flat rate on Sunday. It meant that we had to park our car in CBD and walk rest of the way. With just 2.5 AUD, you have have unlimited rides on public transport on Sunday!!

Botanical garden

Our Sydney trip started with the visit to Botanical gardens. We walked from the entrance to Mrs Macquiere’s chair. It was a pleasant day with some clouds and the walk was beautiful with greenery everywhere. The Sydney skyline on the background added beauty to the place. Mrs. Macquire’s chair provided some stunning views of Sydney Opera House and Harbour bridge, two of the most iconic places in Sydney.

Opera House

We walked from Mrs. Macquire’s chair to Sydney Opera House. The walk was next to the waterbody with some nice views of skyscrapers. Opera House is famous for its architecture and we sat on its steps appreciating the beauty. Lot of visitors but it was a lively place with carnival like atmosphere. The area around Opera House is also famous for wedding photography and it was nice watching them!!

There are lot of restaurants near Opera House but we settled for the packed food got from the apartment. 

Harbour bridge

From Opera House, we passed through Circular Quay and Rocks (a pub area in night) to reach the Harbour bridge. It is huge and beautiful bringing back my memories of San Francisco Golden Gate bridge and Howrah bridge in Kolkata (which I visited many times during my college days). As we walked along the pedestrian path on the bridge, the noise from the vehicles speeding on the bridge was a constant companion!!

The views from the bridge was simply superb. The Opera House and Harbour looked stunning. It is also possible to climb up the Harbour bridge. It should be a great experience but we did not try it.

Harbour cruises

Having seen from Sydney Harbour from several points, we felt it would nice to do a boat journey. We travelled from Circular Quay to Darling harbour. The journey was about 30 minutes with few stops in between. 

Other places

There are many places to see in Sydney. Bondi beach is a popular place but we gave a miss as we had seen many beaches in Great Ocean Drive. Taronga Zoo is another famous place. Sydney tower provides some nice views of the city. Of course, there are many places in the suburbs.