On our first full day in Sydney, we took a 2 1/2 hour walking tour of the city. We always like to do a walking tour (if available) at each city we visit to initially give us a “lay of the land”. Many cities now have “free” walking tours that thrive on tips alone. Like Melbourne and Madrid, we had a graduate degree student guide. They really do a good job of offering some interesting tidbits on almost all the 27 sights we visited.
Some of the highlights of the tour included The Queen Victoria Building (affectionately known as the QVB) which was built as a monument to the long reigning monarch. This gorgeous old building is now home to some of Sydney’s finest fashion boutiques with tunnels connecting its 2 lower floors to other retail buildings along the street. The two massive clocks are beautiful. One of them demonstrates the beheading of King George hourly. Outside the building, a bronze statue of Queen Victoria’s dog speaks when you throw coins into the fountain! We also visited inside the historic Customs House which has an incredible scale model of Sydney’s city center viewed through a glass floor. It was quite spectacular and very detailed. An interesting story was told about Sydney’s “Rum Hospital” which is currently a working hospital. The original Sydney Hospital was paid for with rum sales for the builders, being allowed to import up to 60,000 gallons into the colony in the early 1800’s. Another interesting place was the birthplace of modern Sydney called “The Rocks” which is an historic precinct right by the harbor with cobbled laneways, cute cafés and lots of pubs. Circle Quay is Sydney’s major harbor and was the last area we visited. It is where all the ferry boats dock. Despite its name, Circle Quay is actually square in shape.
After the tour and lunch, we headed over to the worlds largest steel arch bridge and one of Australia’s most well known and photographed landmarks, The Sydney Harbor Bridge. We debated on the famous “bridge climb”; but, due to the high winds, we opted for a 2-mile round trip walk across the bridge. Nonetheless, the views were breathtaking with lots of boating below along with great views of the Sydney Opera House. The original estimate to build the Opera House was $7 million for a 4 year project, however, the final cost was $102 million! Work commenced on the Opera House in 1957 and was completed in 1973. The original Danish architect was relieved mid-stream and his plans modified. They have determined that if the interior was modified to his original design, today it would cost $1 billion to update it. The Dane never saw the completed icon.
