The skies were threatening but we got out to explore Circular Quay and the area around the Opera House and Botanical Gardens. Our hotel for the first two nights of our stay, The Marriott, was a block away from the quay.
The Opera House is an iconic sight, but it is even more amazing in person. It was designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, who won the 1957 design competition without having engineered the building or knowing that it could be built. The task of building the structure was daunting. The design problems were solved when Utzon based the components on parts of a sphere.
The project took from 1958 to 1973 to complete, and Utzon resigned midway through the project and died before it was completed.
We were able to book a 9:30 opera house tour ($40 each but worth it to get inside the structure).
There are multiple concert halls and theaters. The concert hall holds 2,700 people, the opera theater holds 1500, and there are three smaller theaters.
The exterior is covered with a million and a half tiles in glazed and unglazed white and bone tiles.
The interior, completed after Utzon left the project, is free standing. Most of the wood is eucalyptus, but the interior of the concert hall is white ash.
After the opera house, we walked walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens, a huge tract of land east of the Opera and surrounding Farm Cove. It affords a great view of the Opera House.
They had a special exhibit on carniverous plants at the Callix, which has a wall of plants.
After lunch at the Vienna cafe and a short rest, we headed back out to the Rocks, the oldest area of Sydney.
We had diner at the Pony, where we had an appetizer of kangaroo with peppercorn sauce and a main of lamb and broccolini, all very delicious if a bit pricy. The old section is very well preserved and recalls the early days of the city.
The bars were all filled with people. From the cruise port quay, we had a great view of the Opera House.
Just after sunset, we enjoyed the Badu Gili, meaning ‘water light’, a projection of Gadigal images on the Opera House’s eastern Bennelong sail.
We really love Sydney! This map will give you an idea how much green space there is in downtown Sydney. It seems like a very livable city.
