Sydney. First impressions.

Elisa
Oct 13, 2018
2 min read

Updated: Nov 30, 2020

We arrived in Sydney in afternoon. First impression was more or less like any other big cities. Lots of traffic, tall buildings.

We droped-off our insanely expensive rented car and walked towards Surry Hills to check in our AirBnB. We were surprised by the architecture and cute details of the house facades.

We were lucky to live on one of the calmest and quietest streets.

But just around the corner there was everything what we needed. Boutiques and creative restaurants, shops, parks and lively streets. Surry Hills is now Sydney’s buzziest and most happening suburb.

That evening we didn't do much, because we were to tired. But the next morning we went for breakfast to the Bourke Street Bakery. Locals said that this is one of the best places to get your coffee and pastries. And they were right.

We walked around for some time admiring buildings, streets and parks.

We ended up in Botanical Gardens. We took a small break after taking multiple pictures with the famous Opera House. A group of Asian people even started taking pictures with Aldis as he was a celebrity. There was at least 6 girls standing in the line, to get a picture with him. Of course they did the same with some other people. Kind of an odd and funny moment.

Day was quite windy and a lot more chill than previous ones. We knew that in Sydney will be at lot colder than up North.

It was an amazing feeling to be in this famous and glorious city, so far from home. In a million years I wouldn't guess that I will come here. But the same as it was with other places in the world - they start as an idea in my mind and then becomes a reality.

We walked to the city part called The Rocks and checked out a little Sunday market. We also decided to go to The Opal store to see the famous opals in real life. The Opal Mines in Australia are responsible for 90% of worlds production of Opal. I fell in love with the gorgeous multi-color, shinning stones, especially the light blue ones.

One of the most impressive buildings what we visited was Queen Victoria building. Designed as a marketplace, it was used for a variety of other purposes, underwent remodeling and suffered decay until its restoration and return to its original use in the late twentieth century. Now it is a shopping center with museum vibes. Don't forget to look up, so you wouldn't miss any artpieces.