Sunday dawned on our final day in Melbourne. After Saturday’s trip to the beach, our plan was to check out the street art in the city. But first we needed breakfast. We walked over to the Italian district on Lygon Street. Walking down the street we noted quite a number of Italian restaurants before we reached our destination, Stuzzichino Restaurant. It had been recommended online as a breakfast place, but we didn’t find it to be that much better than the other places we had eaten, but it was good food.
Nourished we were ready to start our day. We first went over to the Art Center where they were having a Sunday outdoor arts and craft market. It wasn’t huge, but we did find a watercolor painting of one of Melbourne’s churches to add to our collection.
From the market we crossed the street to Federation Square, which is a newer area in Melbourne, but in my opinion, on the ugly side. We were looking for the Koorie Heritage Trust which is an organization to protect the culture of the indigenous people. Visiting their museum is free. We were expecting a larger space with more displays of indigenous items. However, as small as it is, the displays of art work and artifacts were educational. The artifact displays are on the second floor while on the bottom floor there is a gift shop selling arts and crafts made by the indigenous people in the area.
We were now ready to look for the street art we had heard so much about in Melbourne. In Federation Square we chatted with a friendly woman from the local tourism department. She was able to provide us with a small map that gives a route to follow to the various alleys and corners where there is a history of street art. It’s definitely helpful to follow a map or guide as the various areas are scattered around the city.
There are some different kinds of street art around the city. There is the type that seems more along the graffiti style. Here you might find areas that just seem to be tagged with names as well as more artistic endeavors. Sometimes you will see work that has a political or cultural message. These areas often have paint upon paint. Painting here means someone else may come along and paint over what you painted. Wandering on one of these streets we saw a young man with some cans of spray paint adding his work to the maze of paintings.
The other genre of street art seems more truly art. These works are usually larger and could have just as easily been painted on a canvas as on a wall somewhere. We were told by our tour guide on Thursday that the artists of these pieces seek permission from the buildings they are working on as well as the city. They are usually left alone and are not disturbed by the other street artists. Some of them have become famous as tourists put their images on social media.
As we wandered around the city looking at the street art, we stopped at some of the churches. The main Episcopal church, St. Paul’s, is across from Flinder’s Train Station. It is a large cathedral. The interesting thing is that if you want to take pictures inside the church, they ask you to pay for that privilege so I didn’t take any pictures. On the other hand we went by a local Presbyterian church called The Scots’ Church. When I went inside that church, I was warmly greeted and told I was free to take pictures. The stained glass windows were beautiful.
Another beautiful building we visited was State Library Victoria. The front of the library is being renovated, and it was the location of our meet-up for our tour on Thursday. Sunday, however, we went inside. There are a number of large areas, but the most impressive area is the La Trobe Reading Room. On the floor of the room is a study area which spreads out from the center creating an interesting pattern. There is a glass dome above. The room is six stories high and stairs will take you up toward the top with views of the room below. There are historical exhibits on a number of the floors. Unfortunately there wasn’t much time to look over the information. However, the library is well worth a stop.
From the library we headed to the area known as Docklands. We were expecting a district with various shops and entertainment areas, but it was not quite what we anticipated. Around the water’s edge there are a number of apartments or condo buildings, but it was a pretty quiet area. It is a nice picturesque place to walk around, but not much else going on. However a few blocks over there is a mall and a small play area for children with a big wheel. Most surprising for us was that just beyond that was a Costco. We walked over and bought some food for dinner and ate it in the food court section. It was an unexpected experience in Australia.
Since this was a Sunday, we ended our day attending the evensong service at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. There were a number of people there for the service. I was expecting the service to be mostly music, but there was a sermon. The music itself was very beautiful with choir and organ.
After a good night’s sleep, our time in Melbourne came to an end. With the trams running, we were able to get back to the Skytrain easily and from there to the airport. There is a separate airport area for domestic flights, and since we were headed for Sydney, we went there. It was a pretty quiet morning at the airport, and soon we were on our way to Sydney. See you there.
Any thoughts about Melbourne. Feel free to share thoughts or questions in the comment section below.
There are three more articles about Australia still to come. If you are not receiving this in your email, subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss any articles.
Credits: Silvette took the photos “Creating New Art” and “Standing in Front of Street Art”