For some light entertainment I watched "Ladies in Black" - an Australian movie based on an Australian novel written by Madeleine St John, using well known Australian actors and featuring British actress Julia Ormond, and "The old man and the gun" a film based on the story of a career criminal and prison escapee, starring Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek.
*(You-tube trailers below)
On arrival in Sydney at 4,30pm, I caught the train into Circular Quay where Jose met me.
Circular Quay is the main ferry terminal as well as port for international cruise ships, and a transport node for buses and a railway station which is part of the underground Circle Line.
It is also one of Sydney's favourite tourism precincts, being the gateway to Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Rocks, the Sydney Opera House and via the foreshore walkway to the Royal Botanic Gardens.
As usual a massive cruiser was docked there - "The Explorer of the Seas". The cruise ships usually arrive early in the morning and depart in the early evening.
On my "to visit list" this time was Barangaroo Reserve, which is a development project just behind the historical suburb of "The Rocks", and even though Jose wasn't too keen on a walk, as he had to lug my hand luggage uphill, but with a few hours of daylight ahead, he agreed and we proceeded.
The former wharves of East Darling Harbour, have been developed and have opened up this waterfront area to the public in more than 100 years.
The Barangaroo project will be finished by 2024, providing a beautiful and continuous 14km waterfront walkway. Right now part of the waterfront has been finished with green areas and lots of square cut sandstone walls - a perfect spot to relax and watch the sun set.Further down a few modern residential and commercial buildings have popped up and Crown Casino & Hotel is under construction.
A Sydney Metro station will eventually open up in the area too.
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| The Crown Casino under construction - area still under development |
After our walk around Barangaroo we returned to The Rocks and had dinner at Caminetto, an Italian Restaurant where we'd eaten on one of my previous trips. Food and service were good.
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| Seafood Risotto (the oysters went to my husband as I don't eat them) and Tiramisu for dessert |
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| The Rocks at night time |
After dinner we walked back via Circular Quay and up to Bridge Street where we caught the 207 bus to Middle Cove.
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| The Opera House and Circular Quay at night |
You-tube trailers : Ladies in Black and The old man and the gun:
Um belo passeio e gostei de ver aquele gigante dos mares, aproveito para desejar uma boa semana.
ReplyDeleteAndarilhar
Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
O prazer dos livros
Obrigada Francisco. Todos os dias ha cruzeiros novos em Sydney, cada um maior que o outro :)
DeleteIt's your nighttime views that really stand out to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks William, they came out well :)
DeleteBeautiful. You worked hard on this post. Lots of fabulous shots.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day and week, Sami. ♥
Thanks Sandee, glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteThe walkway is going to be a great asset, isn't it? I'm not crazy about high rise hotels but I suppose on that waterfront it won't look out of place. :) :)
ReplyDeleteYes, that walkway will be fabulous, with awesome views :)
DeleteOne of the memories I have of Sydney was that there seemed to be construction everywhere, and even out in suburban areas vast tracts of new housing seemed to go on forever.
ReplyDeleteThe New South Wales Government has given tons of money for infrastructure projects -light rail, new stations, upgrades to old stations, new lines, new roads....and my husband is involved in some of rail projects as unfortunately in Western Australia we don't have much going on in that area.
DeletePS I love to see all those Silver Gulls.
ReplyDeleteThey are everywhere David, trying to grab something to eat :)
DeleteAnother excellent post Sami. Looks like you had a wonderful time with Jose, looking forward to seeing more ✨
ReplyDeleteI try my best to fit all I can into my visits :) Thanks Grace.
DeleteSydney é uma paixão!!!
ReplyDeleteObrigada Pedro :)
DeleteI still have to chuckle thinking how back then (1995) I stood at the underground unable to read the map and asked finally for the train to Circular Quay and got an answer AT ONCE.
ReplyDeleteDidn´t trust the man ... cause ... that map!! The next gave me the same answer and even was on that train, too (Ingo was trying to sell our car, I had the arvo off).
Hmmm... the Barangaroo Reserve-project really looks good so far!
There is a lot of construction going on.
Oh. Ingo "forgot" (?) to eat oysters in Perth, he for some reason unknown to me, likes them (I never tried).
Glad you had soo much fun. Sad it´s not that often.
I took the train from Central Station a couple of times and there are so many lines, it can get complicated :)
DeleteBarangaroo Reserve is going to be amazing.
I only like "Kilpatrick oysters" made with a sauce of bacon, tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Jose made me taste those one day and I loved them, but can't make myself put a plain one in my mouth :)
Fabulous pics Sami - have you got a new camera, the one of the cruise ship is especially brill! You will be getting to know Sydney pretty well by now. I always enjoy my visits with you.
ReplyDeleteWren x
Thanks Wren. I got a new camera in December when my other one got the lens stuck. It's a small one so I can carry it in my bag- Canon Ixus 285HS. The zoom is much better than my old one.
DeleteI've now been to Sydney about 8 or 9 times, and I try to visit something different every time if I can.
The cruise ships are huge. I was horrified to see in a recent news reports that they pull into Venice. There was a photo of San Marco's Square dwarfed by a cruise ship and the square filled with zillions of people. And it is February the off season, which it was when we were there some 35 years ago. I happened to be looking at our photos recently and in my shots there are just pigeons! Fortunately the big cruise ships are not as disruptive to Sydney.
ReplyDeleteI saw the same documentary Joan, and it's dad to see Venice "going down". The problem with cruise ships is that the passengers only spend a few hours in each city and don't spend much money there.
DeleteEu tenho que ir a Sydney!!! I must, I must!!!
ReplyDeleteE a Perth também :)
DeleteDearest Sami,
ReplyDeleteThat was another interesting discovery of Sydney for you.
Sad to see the development of a huge Casino and we still remember the discussion with our friends in Sydney in the 80s, about the fact that they never managed to preserve the dock area for wool where sheep got shaved etc. That was history but we all know that the profit per square meter is nothing compared to a casino. So the power of money speaks and rules!
Sending you hugs,
Mariette
I think nowadays the Australians are paying more attention to preserving the old and the history, but sadly 20 or 30 years ago that wasn't happening. Thanks Marianne.
ReplyDelete💚
DeleteThis are is quite beautiful. I appreciate the architecture (though I'm more of a classical type) and the gardens. I do love seeing a city on a seaport.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeanie.
DeleteThe cruise ships are huge!
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures, you seem to pack so much in on your travelling.
All the best Jan
Sydney gets visited by a lot of gigantic cruise ships :)
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