While the first part of our Melbourne weekend was spent driving the Great Ocean Road, we devoted our Sunday to exploring Melbourne itself.

Flinders Street Railway Station

A friend who recently lived in Melbourne highly suggested that we stay either in the CBD or Fitzroy, and gave us a list of bars and restaurants that we needed to check out. You can see her entire list of Melbourne food recs here, but below are the places that we personally visited (and loved):

– Manchester Press: we started our day with coffee and bagels from Manchester press. I knew we’d have a lot of eating ahead of us that day so I *thought* that it would be a light brunch, but boy was I wrong. We ordered a lox bagel and a avo-feta bagel, and when the plates arrived I couldn’t believe my eyes. There must have been half a salmon on one bagel, and at least three whole avocados on the other – the portions were huge! Aaron sure didn’t complain, and both bagels tasted great. The place was quite crowded, but the waiting list moved pretty quickly.

Light brekkie

Everyone loves bagels

– Queen Victoria Market: after brunch we walked over to Queen Victoria Market to work off our bagels. A lot of the stalls were pretty generic and looked like a Sunday market anywhere in the world, but the indoor food and drink stalls were truly impressive. We especially loved the coffee at Market Lane Coffee in the dairy produce hall.

– Naked for Satan: once properly caffeinated, we walked through Carlton Gardens over to Fitzroy. The neighborhood looks like SF’s Valencia Street and Haight Street had a love-child, in a good way. There are a billion places to eat and drink on Brunswick Street, but we’d heard so many good things about Naked for Satan that we knew we’d have to go there. It ended up being one the highlights of the weekend. I don’t really know how best to describe it other than a super cool bar/gallery/rooftop party + pinxtos rolled into one venue. You have to check it out!

Getting naked for satan

View of Fitzroy from roof of Naked for Satan

Carlton Gardens

– Little Creatures: we continued walking around Fitzroy until we worked up enough of an appetite for food and drinks at Little Creatures’ Melbourne Dining Hall. It was a bit empty on a Sunday afternoon, but we accounted that to being between meal times on a sunny day. Perhaps it’s a bit better to visit when the weather isn’t so great? Nevertheless, we really enjoyed the beer tasting flight and several of their snack items.

And before we knew it our Sunday in Melbourne was over and it was time to fly back to Sydney. We’re spending this weekend in the eastern beaches (Bondi and Coogee), so I’ll write my next blog post once I’ve compiled another list of recommendations.

Melbourne: so cool, it’s scary