Notes from the New World: Manly Beach

This weeks outing went to Manly Beach in North Sydney. Manly is a bit touristy but is absolutely lovely, you take your walks down long car free streets with plenty of opportunity to stop for a beer and chips, or more fancy food along the way, there are plenty of streets going of the main one where there is less tourist and more laid back places.

We found a lovely little Swedish Cafe called Fika where we stopped for Swedish Coffee and Kanelbullar. On the menu they served Swedish Meatballs, Skagenröra, Knäckebröd and other Swedish goodness. The staff was a friendly mix of Scandinavians so I get a chance to talk my mother tongue if only for a few minutes. Well worth a visit and it takes you of the crowded main streets in Manly.

http://fikaswedishkitchen.com.au/

To get to Manly you take a 30 minutes ferry from Circular Quay, it's about $14 return and it's lovely to go out during the day and return to the city after dark so see the city lit up. Both leaving and returning to the city gives you great views of the Opera House, Sydney Harbor Bridge and Luna Park. But be prepared to be crowded by all the tourists with their cameras if you want to get some good photos.

The Manly beach is pretty long compare to Bondi and Tamarama, my two local beaches, it's about 3 km long and there is a promenade that goes along the beach. I am sure it's crowded in the summer but at the moment it wasn't to busy. A dozen families with kinds building sand castles and 50 or so surfers. We walked along the promenade from the south to north where the beach connects to a large lagoon. There we found a park where a street artist displayed his soap bubble stunts.

We walked back as the sun set, grabbed a snack at the wharf and headed home.

Finishing the outing with dinner at Grilld in Bondi Junction made this day pretty much perfect.

http://www.grilld.com.au/locations/#location/new-south-wales/sydney/bondi-junction

Thank you for reading.