20 Reasons why Melbourne is the worlds most lovable city.
Alleyways of the Most – Cool Alleyways splashed with graffiti and down to earth coffee shops and cafes
Streets that have musical names – ACDC lane where you can rock away to Cherry Bar
Vinyl is where it is at – Over 50 Vinyl rexord stroes around Melbourne, incumbent of the latest pressed seven inchers by local DJS
Fine Beer and Haircuts – get a local cut across Melbourne where fine beer is served. Not for the kiddies.
Oh the Esplanade – As Paul Kelly sings” I’ll give you all of Sydney Harbour, all that land and all that water, for that one sweet promenade”
For St Kilda and its out of the world – Local artist on Acland Street got a UFO crashing through its roof.
Pub Grub – “Offspring”, local TV series a regular at the Union Club Hotel
Free trams – where in the world do you get free trams. All trams are free in the CBD area of Melbourne.
Neon signs that people actually like – The skipping girl Vinegar sing in Richmond
Black is back – and all over Melbourne. Everyone wears it.
Monday is Saturday – Cinema Nova on Lygon has half price tickets on Mondays.
Public holiday for a horse race – the first Tuesday in November, all the money’s on the horses for the Melbourne Cup is being run. The real banks are closed.
Street art is around you – Melbourne has embraced street art: its cobblestone laneways are plastered with graffiti and stencil art. Hosier Lane not only has spectacular works along its couple of hundred meters, but also off its intersection.
A post office with flowers – Melbourne residents go a step further. Pick up a bouquet for the missus
More tattoo stores than you can poke a needle at – The locals’ love of art appears on their bodies, too, which you can find at scores of tattoo parlors.
Chapel Tattoo in Prahran has eight eager tattooists in store, ready to bruise you with tribal patterns from around the world.
A square but a block – Federation Square. That’s the block. Thanks to the demolition of Gas and Fuel Corporation’s, Federation Square was built in time for Australia’s Centenary of Federation in 2001.
Open spaces, cafés, bars and restaurants are now around a building that is locally perceived as ugly. But it’s better than what was there before, and is now one of the city’s top tourist attractions.
A clown that eats you for fun – Walk inside St Kilda’s big clown mouth. For that you’re promised Luna Park’s terrific temptations, such as Silly Serpent, Scenic Railway and Spider.
A sporting stadium you can fit a city in – The MCG, the country’s biggest sports stadium, was home to the 1956 Olympics. It makes some noise during a Boxing Day Test match or an AFL Grand Final.
Football mad – This is a town that loves football so much it invented its own game, Aussie Rules. The game has since been exported round the country, but nine of the 18 teams in the Australian Football League are based in Melbourne.
Pedestrians get their way – Bourke Street, the shopping mecca in the heart of the city, has been a pedestrian- and tram-only mall
The residents are high -, Melbourne’s tallest building, Eureka Tower, is the second-tallest residential building in the world.
Cheap strawberries and feta cheese – Melbourne’s market. Queen Victoria Market, but known as the “Vic Market,” this open-air martket has been the scene of friendly competition.
Festival Moomba – So why is country’s biggest free community festival called Moomba? Does the Aboriginal word mean “let’s get together and have fun,” as some originally suggested — or has the city been saying “bottom fun” in indigenous lingo since 1955?
Flinders Street Station – The gold rush boom of the 19th century resulted in the construction of iconic buildings, such as Flinders Street Station (generations of Melbournians have arranged to “meet you under the clocks”) and the Royal Exhibition Building, built for the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition.
You can buy a formal hat at the train station
Those teddy bears must know someone with big feet.Anything and everything is art in Melbourne. It has no boundaries. Though when a collection of shoes passes as an art installation, questions have to be asked.
A bay in a day – Start in Melbourne and wind through wine districts of Mornington, then down to the historic towns of Portsea and Sorrento.
Smelly shoes pass off as art – Those teddy bears must know someone with big feet.Anything and everything is art in Melbourne. It has no boundaries.
Bike paths that stretch to Canberra – Cycling along Gertrude Street.OK, you could cycle to Canberra, anyway — if you’re Cadel Evans. But there are 670 kilometers of bike paths around the city, which would get you to Canberra with 10 kilometers to spare. By then you’d be out-pedalling Amsterdam.
Australia’s first espresso machine – The nation’s first espresso machine popped up on Lygon Street, Carlton, less than half a century ago. To say it’s caught on would be an understatement.
An airport that’s easy to get to – Skybus operates between the city and airport for $16, gets you there in 20 minutes and leaves every 10 minutes.
If there’s nothing else to do, you can go to Kent St – The place to go when there’s nowhere to go. About a decade ago, a piece of toilet humor appeared in a bathroom wall on Smith Street.
Culture really is important – As the Melbourne Festival draws to a grand finale, people rightly ask why Melbourne just does these culture gigs a little more naturally.
