Exploring Sydney in Two Days

Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay was our base of operations for our two day post-cruise exploration of Sydney Australia.

We arrived at hotel on Friday after our cruise disembarked, checked in, leaving our luggage with the porter, and headed over to the concierge desk.  It is wise to rely on locals when planning your activities.   We had an idea of what we wanted to see, but due to Saturday being Australia Day (which is like the 4th of July in America) we needed some guidance on how best to maximize our time.

We had decided to do a combination hop-on-hop-off bus tour along with a ferry tour.   Since some streets would be blocked on Saturday, he suggested that we do the bus tour on Friday then watch the Australia Day festivities in the morning with the ferry harbour tour afterwards.

Big Bus Tours Sydney

We purchased our tickets thru the concierge but we needed to pick them up on the quay. A short walk from the hotel and we were on the quay and at the ticket counter.  We picked up the modified schedule for the weekend and waited for our bus to start our tour.

Big Bus Tours introduces you to all the most famous landmarks in Sydney, including beautiful Darling Harbour, sculptural Sydney Opera House and gorgeous Bondi Beach. Hop on and off the tour to explore these Sydney highlights and discover more of this iconic seaside city.

We started with the Red Route and took it to Central Station.  After exploring Central Station, we then boarded a Blue Route bus to Bondi Beach.

Note:  At the time of this writing, the Blue Route is suspended.  Please check their website for current tour operations.

Sydney Central Station is worth hopping off the bus for a closer look.  The interior architecture is amazing with beautiful arches and stained glass windows.  While there you could charge your phone, purchase attraction tickets and get some food or beverages for the rest of your journey.   We just looked around before heading to the Big Bus to continue our tour to Bondi Beach.

We'll cover the ferry tours in separate posts.  Check out our photo albums for more images from our tour via the Big Bus.

Additional photos can be found on our Australia & New Zealand Shutterfly page

Sydney Marriott

Big Bus Sydney




Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Connect With Us On

       

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers


Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat

Arriving in Bergen

click images to enlarge

On-Time Arrival

Our train arrived in Bergen  just before 3 PM as scheduled.   We gathered our luggage and walked towards the train station exit.  The instructions from Hurtigruten indicated that we should exit the station and find a bus marked with a transfer sign.








Before we got to the exit, we were greeted by the bus driver who was holding a Hurtigruten sign.  We waited a few minutes for another passenger, but they never showed up. The driver called in to report he had all but the one passenger and he was instructed to leave.

Some of the passengers were from the previous voyage and they were headed for local hotels.   We made a few stops to drop them off and then headed to the ship.

Hurtigruten's terminal is off the beaten path in Bergen. The bus dropped us off in front of the terminal and a few minutes later we had already checked in, dropped off our luggage, and headed into a meeting room for the safety briefing.   We hung out in the cafe until our cabin was ready for occupancy.

Additional photos can be found on our Norway Shutterfly page

 

Bergen Transfer to Ship

Click on the image to the right for more Blog posts about this trip.

Follow us on Twitter: @ChrisPappinMCC  Pinterest: CruiseWithChris Pappin and Facebook: CruiseWithChris Pappin Cruises Inc

Venice Cruise Terminal to Pizzale Roma

 Inexpensive Transport 

Cruise Terminal

to Airports & 

Train Station

If you've been to Venice on a cruise ship, you know that you are docked far from the center of activities and the main squares of Venice.  Typical transportation is via a water taxi (vaporetto).

While you are sightseeing via ship-provided tours, reaching the heart of Venice isn't a problem, however getting to the airport or train station on your own, when the cruise is completed, can be a daunting and expensive task.

HINT: Take Tram to Piazzale Roma

Piazzale Roma is a square in Venice, Italy which serves as the main bus terminal.  There are bus links to Venice Marco Polo Airport and Treviso Airport. The square is close to the main Santa Lucia (Ferrovia) railway station for Venice, linked by the Ponte della Costituzione, a modern footbridge over the western end of the Grand Canal.

We can tell you from experience this is the way to go as long as you are able to handle your luggage on your own, especially over the footbridge.   If you can't, you might be lucky enough to have a good looking Italian fellow assist you over the bridge (of course he'll be expecting to be rewarded for his good deed).

Short Walk to Tram

Getting to the tram is pretty easy.   Just cut through the cruise terminal and walk along the footpath for about a five-minute walk to the peoplemover tram entrance.  Tickets are vended from the machine on ground level (they’re €1 each, machines take euro coins or cash).  Take the escalator or elevator to the platform where you'll board modern cars that can accommodate you and your luggage in comfort.

Santa Lucia Train Station

The tram is a recent improvement (2010) in Venice and not widely known.  Our destination from the cruise terminal was the train station for our return to Rome (Civitavecchia) for our final post-cruise night before flying back home.  

By taking the train to and from the ship, we were able to purchase round-trip air from Rome instead of one-way tickets to Rome and from Venice, which saved us on overall cost.


Best spent €1  during the entire Mediterranean Cruise - very convenient

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Connect With Us On

        

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers


Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat