A Walk on the Wild Side.

Melbourne is known for it laneways.  Back in the early 1800's, the city was designed with wide streets that would accommodate hauling big cartloads of goods.  As the big business happened on the main streets, smaller streets and laneways offered eclectic and diverse options from the ordinary.

We decided to take a self-guided laneways tour, and scoured the world wide web for a suggestion of streets.  We had seen and heard about the great cafes, restaurants, and graffiti that line the laneways, but the tour gave us some additional background.  What we found was awesome graffiti, beautiful architecture, odd artwork, and a nice little cafe for a snack and a great cup of coffee.

1.  DeGraves Street

Home to Degraves Espresso, named one of
the top ten coffee houses in the city.

Majorca House, a 1920's Art Deco residential building.

2.  Centre Place

The most photographed laneway.

Fortunately, all of the shops were closed so we got a good
view of the graffiti.

3.  Block Arcade

Named after "doing the block", where fashionable Melbournians
promenaded to see and be seen.

Covered arcade with mosaic tile floors.

4.  Block Place

These gold discs create a trail around Melbourne, where
the gold rush impacted the city. 

Lots of small cafes and shops line this alley.

5.  McKillop Street

McKillop Street - home to "The Haunted Bookstore".

Victorian lampposts.

6.  Hardware Lane

There's a McDonald's (Maccer's) immediately
to my right in this picture.  Jeff wanted a double
cheese burger.

7.  Niagara Lane (probably my favorite).

Once this laneway housed restaurants, merchants,
plumbers, and sweet shops...now, apartments.

The ironwork and pulley's are original.
The pulley's were for hoisting barrels for Niagara Hotel.

Barrel pulley's and apartment numbers.

Street Art.

Street Art.

8.  Union Lane

Apparently, graffiti isn't illegal in Australia.

You may notice that there aren't many people in these pictures...we went out on New Year's Day, and pretty much everything was closed and Melbourne was a ghost town.  Worked perfectly well for us :)