Sydney
Guide
Brash and beautiful, Sydney sits nestled in
the sandstone cliffs overlooking Sydney Harbor, basking in
its role as a gateway for travelers, a mecca of culture and
a playground for tourists and its 5 million residents alike.
Host to the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, the city is feverishly
sprucing up, renovating its infrastructure and repairing its
image as a rough-and-tumble town.
In some ways, though, the city delights in
its "bad-boy" heritage. Though the region was populated
for 100,000 years by the Aborigines, captain Arthur Phillips
sailed his First Fleet into Sydney Cove in 1788, bearing nearly
1,000 exiled convicts from British prisons. Settled as a colony
of the crown and named "New South Wales," the country
grew as more exiled convicts joined free settlers in forming
the basis for the community that would become a major financial
and cultural center of the Asia-Pacific region.
Today, Sydney abounds with modern interpretations
of its colonial past. At waterfront Circular Quay, where Phillips
first landed, street entertainers ply their trade along Writer's
Walk, where famous writers' words about Australia are fixed
in the sidewalk with gold medallions.
The Rocks region has evolved in truly contemporary
fashion, from the site of Australia's first permanent European
settlement to its current incarnation as a leading shopping
venue that offers some of the city's finest gifts, souvenirs
and native crafts. It's also renowned for great restaurants
and cheerful pubs. History continues to abound in adjacent
Victorian suburbs, where a stroll through the cobbled streets
and alleyways gives a visitor a sense of the former seaport
region's rich colonial past.
Home to the Harbourside dining and shopping
complex, the National Maritime Museum and the Sydney Aquarium,
Darling Harbor invites visitors to meander as they enjoy free
music and entertainment on weekends. Outlying beaches stretch
for miles, and visitors join locals on the sparkling sand.
Vast and blue, Sydney Harbour is truly the
city's jewel, crowned by the Sydney Opera House. Designed
by architect Joern Utzon in 1955, the majestic structure seems
to say, "Welcome to Sydney. Prepare to be swept away."
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