Australia – Adelaide

From Western Australia to South Australia and another 1 1/2 hour time change, we are now in Adelaide. It is the fifth largest city in Australia but feels more small town even with an abundance of tall buildings. We are staying in a downtown Sofitel, which is very nice but our last hotel really spoiled us!

For our first evening here we walked a few blocks to Maison Clement for a French dinner. We were pleasantly surprised to have live background music, a guitarist, during dinner.

Adelaide is recognized as one of the great wine capitals of the world and is the gateway to 18 distinctive, world-renowned wine regions. Now we could have gone to the National Wine Centre of Australia to learn all about the wine industry here, but we opted for the more first-hand wine experience, that is, a comprehensive tour, tasting and dining at the world-renowned Penfolds Magill Estate, reserved many months ago.

Penfolds was founded in Adelaide in 1844 by Christopher Rawson Penfold, an English physician and his wife Mary Penfold who emigrated to Australia in 1844. It is one of Australia’s oldest wineries with their initial home still part of the vineyard. The vines shown above are over 100 years old with the Magill Estate the only remaining urban vineyard within a major city in Australia. It was only a 20-minute drive to Penfolds from our hotel.

After the tasting we had a fabulous late lunch served, of course, with Penfolds wines.

In the evening we went to SkyCity, which is a complex with a casino. It had been suggested that we go to the Chandelier Bar primarily because of the chandelier. I have to admit I was not terribly impressed as I was expecting a beautiful crystal chandelier. Steve wasn’t impressed as the casino did not have craps tables, and then they would not change his US dollars in the casino, so he couldn’t contribute those dollars to the casino. As we went outside to return to the hotel, we were unpleasantly surprised with rain. Fortunately a taxi driver took pity on us and agreed to drive us the short distance back to the Sofitel.

Saturday morning, and we joined the crowds at The Market. I had read about it and visiting had been recommended by a knowledgeable bartender in Perth, and it more than lived up to its reputation. It was huge, varied in products offered and had lots of eating opportunities. Before even “officially” entering the market, what should we find but a chocolates store!

Now, is the candy as good as my favorite Sees? No, but it is good. In addition to all the food stalls, to include fruits and vegetables, cheeses, mushrooms, olive oils, meats, seafood, nuts, lots of small eating spots, there were also musicians in various locales throughout the market. The market is huge!

And, of course, there were beautiful flowers.

For our final night in Adelaide we joined the locals in going to Maybe Mae for a drink and then Bread and Bone for dinner. Maybe Mae requested reservations, but the first challenge was finding it. I decided that its name came about because maybe you’ll find it or maybe you won’t! We knew we were there but finally had to ask for help. Through the restaurant and down stairs to a basement and on the way down a hallway was a door so well hidden that we had walked past it more than once! Through the door, and the place was alive with people and music. We were seated at the bar and had a nice chat with the bartenders, both female. Then we went upstairs to the restaurant for dinner. I do believe we were the only tourists in either place!

To conclude our Adelaide visit, I include one last nighttime photo.