Today would be the last day with my friend while we were both in Melbourne. As such I wanted to get the morning off to a good start so that we could maximise the day. The plan for the day was to take the tram to St Kilda before returning to visit Carlton Gardens and see where we ended up from there. As soon as my friend arrived at my hotel this morning, I was ready to go.
St Kilda
We started by heading across to Swanson Street to catch the No. 16 tram towards St Kilda. St Kilda is a suburb of Melbourne and around 35 minutes by tram. The tram follows St Kilda Road past the Botanical Gardens and as it arrives in St Kilda goes along the main street of the suburb. You get a look at everything as you are arriving which makes exploring a little easier.
We disembarked the tram at the far end of the main street closest to St Kilda Beach. From here we walked along the beach towards St Kilda Pier. I can imagine this would be quite a beautiful spot during summer. However, today a fresh breeze was blowing and some clouds blocking the sun the water was not too appealing.
St Kilda Pier
Walking along St Kilda Pier is quite a beautiful spot providing quite a good view back towards the Melbourne City skyline.
The building at the end of the pier houses a small cafe. The building is not original to the pier though as fire destroyed the original building in 2003. However, I believe it was rebuilt in the same style as the original.
Fitzroy Street
After leaving the pier, we headed up the main street of St Kilda, Fitzroy Street. There were a couple of interesting looking shops but nothing that caught our eye. We did find a nice small cafe to get some pizza and a drink for lunch.
Back To Melbourne
After lunch, we discovered that there is an alternative tram available No. 96. The route takes a different approach past Albert Park, the location of the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix and is around 10 minutes quicker. Instead of stopping in the CBD we continued along to a stop on Exhibition Street to be closer to Carlton Gardens.
Carlton Gardens
While there are many nice gardens throughout Carlton Gardens, we stopped here to take a look at two interesting buildings. The first is the Royal Exhibition Building, built in 1880 and still in use today. The building hosts some different events throughout the year.
The second building is the Melbourne Museum, originally opened in 1854. However, not in the current location, it was moved to this building in Carlton Gardens in 2000. It sits in stark contrast to the 130-year-old Royal Exhibition building.
Lygon Street
We had not particularly planned anything for the evening or dinner. However, we were close by to the famed Lygon Street. So we decided to take a walk and see if anything caught our attention for dinner, even though it was a little early.
Lygon Street is lined with stores, restaurants and cafes and is said to be one of the best spots to eat in Melbourne. After taking a walk and seeing what options there were, we stopped at one bar for a drink to fill in time before it was time to eat dinner.
The restaurant we choose was an Italian restaurant by the name of Zingarella. I decide to have a more traditional meal to match the restaurant, a pasta dish. While my friend opted for steak. It was quite a good meal and a place I would consider eating again. Although it was a cooler evening, we could not pass up the option to try some Gelato at a nearby store.
The last few days have been great getting to explore Melbourne with a friend. However, in the morning he leaves to continue his journey in Tasmania. While I have one more day in Melbourne before flying home myself. Even though this might be the end of this trip, I will be getting right into planning my next trip was coming up next year. So I hope you keep watching for updates on the planning of that journey.
