Travel: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

After Canberra (read all about my time there in this post), much of the next day was, quite frankly, wasted, as I travelled from 9am to 5pm to Melbourne. Dropped off at the bus station, I walked the bustling streets up to Space Hotel, a cool hotel with lots to do, although I was put off slightly by the distinctly camera-looking objects in each of the showers. Probably not what they were, but I'd be really keen to know what they are actually doing there. 

I was just in time for a Cultural Centre walking tour taking place from outside the State Library, just down the street from me. This hour and a half tour took us down some of the city's many laneways covered in plenty of street art and lots of exciting looking bars and restaurants. I was particularly interested to learn that Melbourne has the most live music venues per capita. I could get used to something like that! 

The next day I planned to do yet another walking tour, but first, breakfast. Melbourne is foodie heaven, and I've recently discovered that I am indeed a foodie. I headed down to Lune, easily recognisable due to the line pouring from its entrance. Lune is home to some spectacular croissants - I was torn between the almond croissant or chocolate and pistachio. Both gloriously overpriced, even more so as on this day there was the public holiday surcharge, but I was convinced to go with the chocolate and pistachio when I was told it was limited edition. Fingers crossed I'll be back in Melbourne before too long to test out that almond croissant too.

I ate my new acquisition as I walked briefly around Fitzroy Park before heading back to the State Library in time for my City Highlights tour. We spent the next three hours checking out the best of the city before ending up at Southbank for great views back over the skyline. 

Now on the other side of the river, it made sense to see what was around, so I walked down to the Shrine of Rememberance. I arrived just in time for a minutes silence as a light drifted across a quote in the floor as the sun naturally does each year on November 11th at 11:11. 

From the balcony of the Shrine, we got views back over the city and the nearby Botanical Gardens, which is where I headed next for a quick wander around. 

Up the road was the National Gallery of Victoria, so I took some time to check out the Asian, European, and pretty weird contemporary art housed in the museum before getting kicked out at closing time.

What to do with no more museums to go to? Dinner, I think. And this was no ordinary dinner, but the world's best pizza, as decided in 2014. Whether the pizza is still as good now as it was then, I can't say, but I was still heading to Gradi to find out. It was the simple margherita which took home the prize, and so that was what I ordered. Pretty nice. 

I had a look at the dessert menu, but not in the mood for an $18 tiramisu I opted instead to try Pidapipo, often claimed to be Melbourne's best ice cream. I was expecting good ice cream, what I was not expecting was a Nutella tap, which really is the stuff of dreams, so obviously I had to top my scoop with some Nutella too. Obviously. 

I wandered home via Hosier Lane, the city's most prolific street art street. Did you know street art is so ingrained in Melburnian culture that they even have a street dedicated for budding artists to practice? Pretty cool. 

I'd booked myself a trip for the next day, but it didn't leave until close to midday, which meant more than enough time to go in search of brunch. My Googling led me to Hardware Societé, a very hip joint which was surprisingly not busy when I arrived. 

I ordered a chai latte and some French toast, which arrived generously draped in a mound of lemon curd and meringue. The first bite, I remember thinking 'this is good' It really was delicious, wonderfully fluffy toast and creamy curd, but so rich I could barely finish half of it. I assured the waiter that me leaving some on my plate was certainly not because I hadn't loved it! Then it was off for my tours, until I returned to explore Melbourne a few days later.

On my second free day in Melbourne, I’d created an extensive route to tick off our the tourist hotspots I hadn’t manged to hit already. But first, breakfast. Melbourne is somewhat of a foodie heaven, and as a newly-discovered foodie, I had to try the weird and the wonderful. That morning’s breakfast was certainly more on the weird end of things, as I headed to the aptly named Weirdoughs.

Weirdoughs is a plant based bakery, and they had a selection of croissants and donuts on the counter stuffed to the gills with jams and vegan nutellas. I already knew what I wanted – a cube croissant. Yep, it’s exactly what it sounds like – a croissant baked into the shape of a cube. Did it need to exist? No. Did I need to try it? Absolutely.

My cube croissant was filled with raspberry jam, and I took it to go as I had the best of intentions to catch the number 35 tourist tram, a free tram which takes you in a rectangle around the city centre. As I approached the tram stop, I saw one waiting. Shall I run for it? Nah, I’m sure there’ll be another one along soon. Reaching the stop, I couldn’t have been more wrong – 37 minutes! You’re having a laugh!

At this point I did end up running after the tram, but it remained just out of my reach, so I wandered around the riverside before the 37 minutes finally elapsed. The tram was certainly a means to rest your legs, but little more, as I couldn’t hear the informative tannoy over the sound of the tram, and the seats weren’t exactly placed for best views of looking out. Still, it’s not a bad way to get from A to B if you don’t mind the wait!

Resting my legs had probably been for the best, as I had a huge walk ahead of me as I was making my way down to the beach district of St Kilda. This had the potential of being a pleasant walk, but was hindered by the setup of the Australian GP Course which diverted me completely and meant I spent most of the time walking alongside a highway rather than through a nice park as I’d planned.

Not the nicest walk, but I did arrive there eventually. I walked along the beach which was surprisingly busier than I’d expected, and over to Luna Park. Luna Park is St Kilda’s theme park, and has a huge gaping mouth at its entrance which I was keen to get some photos of. The park was closed when I arrived due to coronavirus concerned, but coincidentally I ran into a Channel 4 filming crew who were there filming B-roll for the GP (which subsequently also got cancelled, meaning no doubt my starring role will never be broadcast!)

After my run-in with celebrity, I returned to the beach and walked up to the pier, along which you got excellent views of the city skyline. I wondered whether the sun set behind the skyline – how spectacular that would be. Over the course of that day, I would end up walking almost 25 kilometres, so naturally had built up an appetite, so it was time to check out the wonderful end of the Melbourne foodie scene.

Melbourne is famed mostly for its cafes, but also for its Asian fusion scene, and so I headed to Chin Chin for salt and pepper silken tofu with greens, oyster mushroom, and spicy eggplant chips. It was rather delicious, but I could feel the spice creeping up on me the more I ate. Subsequently, it was only right that I have a cool dessert to soothe the burn, and chose a coconut sako with sweetcorn ice cream. Niche.

I adored Melbourne, and sincerely hope I’ll be able to come back to visit, if not live here for a short while too. I’m sure there’s so much more to discover, and even more great food to sample – I can’t wait! 

Thanks so much for reading about my time in Melbourne! Have you visited the city? If so, I'd love to hear what you recommend doing and seeing for the next time I'm there! Drop me a message in the comments below or on Twitter @CiarasCountry, where you can also find out as soon as a new blog is posted!