Adelaide is a city of culture

From its establishment in 1836, Adelaide’s development has been based on the state of South Australia’s agriculture, mining and manufacturing. The city today retains much of its colonial architecture and has an air of solidity with its grid-like street plan making it an easy city to get around. Set on the edge of a desert the Mediterranean climate and dryland vegetation set the city apart form other Australian capitals. For long the city was known as the “City of Churches”, because of a city skyline dominated by spires. Adelaide is today reinventing itself as a vibrant state capital, shifting emphasis from manufacturing to services and acting a support base for South Australia’s resurgent mining industry.

Adelaide has a well deserved reputation as a city of culture which stems from its long-time hosting of the biennial Adelaide Arts Festival, a gathering of world-renown performers, artists and writers which bring the city a large number of visitors from other Australian states and overseas. The theatres of the Adelaide Festival Centre, close to the Torrens River, are the city’s cultural hub.

The popular seaside suburb of Glenelg, reached by a vintage tram that which runs from the city centre, has lots of great budget accommodation options, trendy alfresco dining and specialty shopping. The Adelaide Hills, 30-minutes drive from the city, is part of the Mt Lofty Ranges, and has walkways through conservation parks, arts and crafts shops and the pretty town of Hahndorf. The nearby Barossa Valley is Australia’s premier quality wine-making district.

Other Adelaide attractions that are worthwhile include the South Australian Museum and the Art Gallery of South Australia. Both of these allow for a new understanding and enlightenment about the state’s natural systems and Aboriginal past and the art produced in times gone by. The Art Gallery collection is one of the finest in Australia and the Gallery itself is a glorious heritage building set on North Terrace. The gallery holds the most balanced collection of Australian art in the country, and in particular, the finest of all collections of nineteenth-century Australian art. The charming Adelaide Botanical Gardens, with its artificial lakes and rainforest conservatory, is another delightful Adelaide attraction. And the Adelaide Zoo serves as a good introduction the fauna of Australia. With around 1600 introduced and native mammals, birds and reptiles. The zoo is a popular attraction.

The Flinders Ranges National Park is a great place to get a good feel for the South Australian natural environment. When you visit the park you will learn about the region’s distinctive geology and it is a great adventure for the entire family.

Barossa Valley

The Barossa Valley is Australia’s best-known wine-growing district. It stretches as a shallow depression 29 km long by 8 km wide, just west of the Mount Lofty and Barossa Valley Ranges. A large wine area, it extends into the hills around the charming town of Angaston.

The valley was originally settled by German Lutherans who planted orchards, olive groves and vineyards and built charming towns and wineries very much in their native European style. The German cultural heritage is still evident in the shop-front names, German wursts, lovely fresh breads and the German influenced food in restaurants and wineries.

The wineries range from amongst the biggest in Australia (Penfold/Kaiser Stuhl/Jacob’s Creek) to the very tiny (Gnadenfrei), and the wines cover the whole range but are generally of a high quality.

To explore this area, particularly during the Vintage Festival every odd-numbered year, is to discover a region and lifestyle unique in Australia. Many wine lovers come from interstate and internationally to see what the fuss is all about with the Barossa Valley wines.