Dining out in Melbourne is always a delightful experience and top of our list Movida, a Spanish Tapas restaurant in Hosier Lane that has not let us down in five visits. The food and wine is amazing, if you go, try for a seat at the bar for a real Spanish feel. Ezards at the Adelphi hotel is up market fine dining with great service and food, an experience which will make a big dent in the credit card. Yu U, a quirky Japanese restaurant(Tapas style) in Little Flinders street, good food but a cold clinical feel with very little atmosphere. nb very hard to find, no signs, just a black steel door with a very small name plate hidden from view. Maybe they don’t want customers? Would be more fun with a crowd.
If you like to bar hop the Berlin bar is a treat for something different. Once you find the entrance to Berlin Bar your first experience (after stairs and an image of Charlie Chaplin) is a closed door with a doorbell. Slightly confused you ring the doorbell and wait; a bartender comes down and opens the door asking how many of you there are then takes you back in time to a world of opulence or past it to a world of communism. You see much like Berlin was this bar is divided into East and West Berlin, complete with checkpoint Charlie in the middle. The contrast of obvious with leather couches and booths in West Berlin to ammunition boxes and converted bathtubs in East Berlin. This is a bar with a strong sense of place and what it is trying to be, a bar that is ‘based on the unification of a divided vision; sumptuous yet humble, Berlin is a venue split in two, as the famous city itself once was. Mistys, is a good place to kill time before dining next Door at Movida. WaltersWine Bar on South bank does great wine and food and Maze (Gordon Ramsey’s) at the Crown is a grand place to rest after a big day shopping.
On our day off we went to the Melbourne museum in Carlton to see The Titanic Exhibition which is a great show but just too many people trying to view the displays. If you wish to visit try and go early in the day before the school kids get there. After this we went to the The National Gallery of Victoria for a bit of culture to see the European Masters , a remarkable collection of masterpieces from the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, one of the finest collections in Europe.
Hobart, what a lovely city. We stayed at the Grand Mecure Hadleys the oldest continuously run hotel in Australia.
Located right on the water front Hobart is delightful place to walk around with easy access to the shopping precinct and the vibrant Salamanca Wharf district. We holed up at many of the bars(Tasie Riesling and Pinot) and restaurants in this area. Even sitting outside in 8 degrees to eat breakfast under an umbrella with electric heaters installed in it. This place is always busy but really comes alive every Saturday with the famous Salamanca Markets where you can buy just about anything.
A short trip to the top of Mt Wellington
(click to see pictures “not ours”) was cold but amazing.
We managed to squeeze in a trip to the movies to see Inception at the gold class( A nice bottle of Tassie Pinot and a plate of great wedges while watching a movie-fantastic)!. Very interesting movie may well require another look to put all the pieces together. We also went to see a Shakespeare Revue which was very clever and funny. I had no idea that I knew so much Shakespeare.
After a big afternoon sightseeing in Richmond a nice little session was had at the Lark Distillery outlet on Davey st. Lots of nice Whiskeys,Vodka and Gin to sample and their Whiskey liquor is to die for.
Last night in Hobart we ate at Mures on Victoria Wharf(just down the road) Nice restaurant right on the water specializing in seafood and very good at it too.
A six am flight out of Hobart was a bit of a bore and made for a very long day traveling home but I guess that’s what you do when you like going places.
By for now
Vivienne
