You haven’t been there? Then go! Okey, you have ben there. Well, go again! The city I’m talking about is the city which you never will forget – Sydney. The city of dreams!

I was there for a month 2002 and have dreamt of returning there ever since. It didn’t take long before the city felt like home. And when I’m thinking about it, it’s not in terms of “I wanna go there again”, but “I wanna go back home to Syndey”. And that’s what really good places do to you. They get burned into your mind and into your skin. Becomes a part of you. They make you feel free, and they make you feel very welcome. All these things are ingredients in the culinary meal Sydney has to offer. Plus much, much more!

Make sure you have a light backpack and grab the flight from Arlanda, Stockholm via Bangkok. Have a few days of shopping in Bangkok and fill your bag. Your wallet will not even notice. Continue your trip towards Sydney where your flight will take you to Kingford Smith International Airport, situated in Mascot, a suburb to our city.

There are about 4 million inhabitants in Sydney (almost half of the Swedish population!!) and even so it almost never feel packed or stressful at any time, anywhere. The city reminds me of our Swedish version of London, Gothenburg, it’s like a big small town. Everything you can imagine is there: shopping, beaches, surfing, restaurants, cafés, parks and ordinary people. It is easy to get around with the public transportation. Either you take the bus, the metro or the monorail. If you prefer to get a cab, just wave one in, and he’ll take you wherever you wanna go for a decent price. The prices are overall quite similar to our Swedis prices, just a little bit lower. And money is a good thing to bring, cause I can guarantee, you wont be restless. There’s loads of things to do, in every price range. To tell you the truth I’m just a rookie at the city, yet I dare to say that I have a few tips of things to do that you’ll never forget. So check in two different top 5’s:

Things to see:

1. The Operahouse
2. The lovely block Darling Harbour
3. Blue Mountains
4. Harbour Bridge
5. Take a stroll through Hyde Park and watch some people play giant chess

Things to do:

1. Surfing at Bondi beach
2. Eat & See a movie att Govindas. (A vegetarina restaurant that first serves you a lovely buffet and when you’re full you just walk in to the cinema with coaches where you’re supposed to lay down and rest while watching a movie. Awesome!)
3. A good book and a day in one of the armchairs at Gloria Jean’s
4. The shopping street – Oxford street
5. Be a part of the surf culture at Manly beach

If you want to feel the wing strokes of the history and fantasiza of what happened at these places 4000 years ago you should rather go to Damascus. Fot the history of Sidney is not that old. At 1770, James Cook, the explorer sat his foot on Australia, just e few klometres south of Sydney. The land was now under the Brittish empire and for a long time Australia served as a colony for punished prisoners. Finally this ceased and the land and the city slowly developed to what we have today.

So you are very welcome home! The best way to get to know a city is to give it a chance. Give just your little finger to Sydney and I assure you, it will grab your whole hand!