Australia Guide
Melbourne
MELBOURNE is the most European of Australia's cities, and while it may lack a truly stunning natural setting or in-your-face sights, its subtle charms are addictive. The European influence is perhaps most obvious in winter, as trams rattle past cosy cafés and bookshops, and promenaders dress stylishly against the chill. You will find many Melburnians from Italy and Greece – this is the third-largest Greek city after Athens and Thessaloniki – but also, following large-scale immigration since World War II, from Vietnam, Lebanon and Turkey. The immigrant blend makes the place a foodie centre, and tucking into a different cuisine each night – or new hybrids of East, West and South – is one of its great treats.
Melbourne is also the nation's cultural capital: laced with a healthy dash of counterculture, the city's artistic life flourishes, culminating in the highbrow Melbourne International Arts Festival in October, and its slightly more offbeat (and shoestring) cousin, the Fringe Festival.
At the heart of the city lies the Central Business District (CBD), bounded by La Trobe, Spring, Flinders and Spencer streets, dotted with fine public buildings and shops, and surrounded by gardens on three sides. Sights include the ghoulish Old Melbourne Gaol and the Immigration Museum. To the north of the CBD a wander through lively, century-old Queen Victoria Market will repay both serious shoppers and people-watchers, while the Melbourne Museum in tranquil Carlton Gardens gives an insight into Australia's flora, fauna and culture. In the east, the CBD rubs up against Eastern Hill, home to Parliament House as well as the landscaped Fitzroy Gardens, from where it's a short walk to the venerable Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Bordering the south side of the CBD, the muddy and, in former decades, much-maligned Yarra River lies at the centre of the massive developments which have transformed the face of the city. Federation Square on the north bank of the Yarra River is considered the centre of the city; its adjacent park, Birrarung Marr, links Federation Square with the sports arenas further east. The city boasts a reasonably cool climate, although January and February are prone to barbaric hot spells; temperatures can climb into the forties, with the threat of bushfires.
Highlights
1 Chinatown The low-rise, narrow streets of Melbourne's Chinatown have changed little since the nineteenth century.
2 Aussie Rules match at the MCG Join the cheering Melbourne crowds for an action-packed footy game at the MCG.
3 Eureka Tower See the city from the highest viewing platform in the southern hemisphere and its gravity-defying "skywalk".
4 Fitzroy Take time to window-shop on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy's main street, lined with vintage clothes stores, secondhand bookshops and cool cafés.
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