Sydney Opera House

The Four Seasons Hotel was in a great location and was within walking distance to the Sydney Opera House. In fact you could see it from Sue and Marks room. We had the hotel book us a tour and walked from the hotel. The walk is easy from the hotel and passes the ferry terminals and harbor cruise ports. Once you get to the far side of Circular Quay the walk is lined with bars and restaurants. 

You can argue that, along with the Sydney Bridge, the Sydney Opera House is the most iconic site in Sydney. It was designed by a Danish architect, Jørn Utzon, who had his design selected in 1957 and was completed in October, 1973. We learned that the reason it took so long was that the original design was not engineering sound and it too years to find a way to build it. Of course that caused cost overruns. The original cost was set at $7 M and the final cost came in at $102 M. During construction the architect resigned and went back to Denmark and never saw it completed. Eventually the architects son was brought back to complete the project.  Later more work was done to allow more natural sunlight to come in. 

The Sydney Opera House is not one venue but is made up of many venues all within the building. That way, during a typical day there could be a school play, major concert, play, recitals, etc. There are over 1500 events and 1.2 M people there each year along with 350,000 people taking the guided tour.

If you are in Sydney the tour is a must do. The guides add a lot of color and perspective to the tour making it very enjoyable.