COLOURFULWORLD

Tuesday 26 July 2011

ADELAIDE - The city of Churches

I have just returned from my first to the city of Adelaide on the south east coast of Australia.
Adelaide is the capital of South Australia and the fifth biggest city with around 1,3million inhabitants.
South Australia is the only Australian state which wasn´t settled by convicts.
Map of city Centre and North Adelaide (grip pattern of centre)

The city is located by the River Torrens and the city centre is set out in a grid pattern surrounded by parks all around and the Mount Lofty ranges to the east.

It is known as the City of Churches with around 24 churches within the centre and in the suburb of North Adelaide across the river. It is also known as the Festival State, as there are many festivals and sporting events happening every month. The wine industry is a thriving business in Adelaide, with two areas within driving distance -  Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. We had no time to visit these areas which will be left for another visit.

We visited Hanhdorf, a former German settlement which was a wonderful surprise and I will writing about this visit in a separate post.
So whatever your interests there is something for everyone and most of these areas are not too far away from the city and you can make your own way or there
are plenty of tours available.

Scots Church in North Terrace, the 2nd oldest church
River Torrens - behind the Convention centre







Rundle Mall

Two of the 4 bronze pig sculptures in Rundle Mall

I enjoyed strolling along Rundle Mall - a pedestrian only street surrounded by shops plus 15 arcades with a lot of unique shops. My favourite was Adelaide Arcade, an old fashion shopping area with very quaint  shops like a Button Bar, or a Hat shop or a bespoke tailor.
The area is open 7 days a week, and there is a huge choice of eating areas in each arcade, plus some live entertainment by street performers.

Inside Adelaide Arcade with its quaint shops

GLENELG

View of Glenelg from the air with Marina to the left and Pier to the right at end
We stayed in an hotel in Glenelg, a seaside suburb 10km from the city by the coast. Being winter the area felt a bit empty, but I can imagine it will be full of locals and tourists in the summer time. There was a tram line, and the trip into the city took about 20min, with a new tram coming every 15 minutes.

Glenelg Marina
Beach and Pier
Glenelg - Moseley Square
Sunset - taken from Glenelg Beach

7 comments:

  1. Adelaide sounds my kind of place - it looks really nice! I love the Bronze pigs :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I enjoied travelling with you in these part of Australia, besides I am so far away...
    (Celeste Cortez, blog: letras-a-solta-celestecortez.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Celeste and Piglet, both of you being in Portugal...I think the pigs would be right at home in your blog Piglet!! I thought they were cute too, and very popular with the kids, I had to wait ages to take a photo.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a lovely blog about Adelaide. I guess I am biased, but Adelaide is a wonderful place, the people are great and the sights and places of interest photos you have put up are definitely some of the best. Glad you enjoyed your visit here Sami, hope you come back soon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Adelaide Woman, thanks for visiting. I did enjoy Adelaide,and hope to go there again in the near future. My husband is working there at the moment, so we are planning on a move towards middle of next year.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just an FYI,
    Adelaide is known as the city of churches not because of all the churches but because it welcomed any and all religions. Many Germans for eg immigrated to South Australia who were Lutherans to escape persecution.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, I didn't know that about the religions, thought it was the number of churches.

      Delete

I would love to hear from you, please leave a comment.