Sydney 2013: Circular Quay, Cruise Terminal, Royal Gardens

I spent about an hour after getting off the ferry in this area to see the sights and also take some pictures of the Opera House and also the large cruise ship that was still in port. The first picture is of George Street, which is the main street in The Rocks area of Sydney, just north of Circular Quay and adjacent to the Cruise terminal.

There is a promenade area by the cruise terminal.

To your right you can see the Circular Quay metro station above ground and one docking area for the ferry.

To the left of the promenade is the Contemporary Art Museum.

Walking down the promenade, you will see the Cruise Terminal.

Along the Promenade, you have a good view of the Sydney Opera House. Most pictures are taken at the park on the other side of Sydney Opera house, as seen in the below map.

I didn’t have time to come here to take a picture of the Opera House:

Also on this map, you see where the metro station is relative to the 6 piers for the ferries. The Cruise Terminal is to the left of the ferries.   As you walk further down past the Cruise Terminal, you get a good view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Not the greatest view as its in a weird angle.

The Cruise Terminal has a restaurant next to it. It wasn’t so busy today. I wasn’t sure why.

Royal Gardens

Circular Quay is just a block from the Royal Gardens so I walked through there. There were some collections of flowers there but nothing spectacular. It is more of an open park space with trees for people to enjoy, rather than the entire garden dedicated to flowers and plants.

I passed by the Government House but it was too late in the day so I could not go in.

The Royal Gardens was more of an outdoor space. There were a few collection of flowers here and there. A nice contrast to the skyscrapers next to it, similar to Central Park in New York City.

Along the way, there was the Art Gallery of NSW.

Also the Hyde Park Barracks Museum

Below was the Hyde Park adjacent to St Mary’s Cathedral, as seen in the second picture. It is much smaller but many more trees with a Archibald Fountain in the middle.

On the http://history.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/ website about the Archibald Fountain:

The Archibald fountain was erected in Hyde Park North in 1932, a gift to the City of Sydney bequeathed in the will of J F Archibald. It is intended to commemorate the association between Australia and France in world War one, and is the work of French sculptor Francois Sicard. It depicts a bronze Apollo surrounded by other mythical figures. Horses’ heads, dolphins and tortoises exuberantly spray jets of water. (Tony Smith / City of Sydney)

A picture of the Tower Eye at ground level. You will notice the Westfield sign on the corner of the glass building, just beneath the Tower Eye. The entrance to the Tower Eye is in the mall, as discussed in the Tower Eye and Skywalk post.