I had a chance to visit Melbourne with my former roommates Cate and Tatsie, who are now based in Sydney. I’m actually attending Cate’s wedding in Sydney in a few weeks. We stayed in Ibis Styles Kingsgate Hotel which is a pretty good basic hotel with an affordable rate. I like staying in Ibis hotels for this reason.
Melbourne River Cruise Sights
I managed to buy tickets for Melbourne Highlights Sightseeing Cruise for really cheap on Viator, so we did that first thing. I like taking river cruises because it gives you a chance to see the sights while relaxing. It’s perfect for those of us who easily get tired.
It was a gloomy day so the pictures don’t look that great, but it was still worth it because we just took the chance to catch up while on the cruise.
State Library of Victoria
My teammate told me that Melbourne had a pretty library that I should go visit. As a former library nerd, this excited me, so off I went, and oh boy, he wasn’t kidding! It’s the prettiest library I have ever seen in my life and even non library nerds would love it.
The outside already looks so beautiful, like a Parliament building, but wait till you see what’s inside.
Isn’t it gorgeous? I had to make my way down to the floor and riffle through the bookshelves to complete the library nerd experience but you don’t need to do that, a picture from the top should be enough for most people.
Parliament of Victoria
I don’t really have much experience with Parliament buildings, so I don’t know if the Melbourne one is standard, but I was pretty blown away by it.
Not so much the outside, though it does look nice, too, but the inside – wow! We were just in time to join a public tour group which was just on its way in. Public tours are limited to the first 25 people.
Public tours take place at 9.30 am, 10.30 am, 11.30 am, 1.00 pm (Express Tour), 1.30 pm, 2.30 pm , 3.30 pm and 4.00 pm (Express Tour) Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) from the Vestibule.
According to our tour guide, the walls are made of actual gold because they were built during a time of opulence.
Queen Victoria Market
We went shopping in the huge Queen Victoria Market, where I scored a pretty gray waterfall coat that I have used quite a lot since then.
There is a lot of food being sold there, too, so if food markets are your thing, definitely check it out. It’s covered by the free trams.
Downtown Sights
One awesome thing about Melbourne which I should mentioned from the beginning is that tram travel is free within their CBD and docklands. So we took advantage of that and just roamed around as far as the tram could make us see.
There are loads of beautiful architecture in the city, perhaps the reason why it sometimes gets compared to Europe. I have to say that Europe is more beautiful and it has a different vibe, but Melbourne is definitely pretty, too. Just don’t go there expecting Europe or you’ll be disappointed.
Melbourne is famous for its vibrant graffiti art, so it was nice to see them in person.
Food
I regret not putting in more effort in seeking out the more famous food scenes in Melbourne. I should have done research on the instagrammable cafes. In the end we just went to ones near where we happened to be.
Brother Baba Budan, this cafe with chairs on the ceiling is actually a pretty good, find, though, and they make good coffee. But then again, good coffee is everywhere in Melbourne. We even got some free Barista-grade ones from a Samsung event that we happened to catch.
We had lunch at Tipo 00, a highly rated place that serves Italian cuisine in an intimate, sophisticated laneway locale with an open kitchen and a marble bar. It was pretty good, but the waitress scolded me for bringing in my coffee from Brother Baba Budan, so make sure to finish your coffee before going in!
It was a fun two days, and even though I caught the flu after this trip and had to be bedridden in Sydney for 3 days, I’m still glad I went.
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND ENTRIES 🇦🇺 Australia: Bridge Climb * Canberra * Hunter Valley * Melbourne * Sydney 🇳🇿 New Zealand: Glenorchy * Hobbiton * Milford Sound * Queenstown See all: Australia & New Zealand Tours
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