Melbourne · Australia, New Zealand

Overview

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Melbourne (say mel-burn) is the cultivated sister of brassy Sydney. To the extent that culture is synonymous with sophistication -- except when it comes to watching Australian Rules Football or the Melbourne Cup -- some call this city the cultural capital of the continent. Melbourne is also known for its rich migrant influences, particularly those expressed through food: the espresso cafés on Lygon Street, Melbourne's "little Italy," Brunswick's Middle Eastern/Indian/Turkish enclave, Richmond's "little Vietnam," or the Chinatown district of the city center.

Named after then-British Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, the city of 3.5 million was founded in 1835 when Englishman John Batman and a group of businessmen bought 600,000 acres of land from the local Aborigines for a few trinkets. After gold was discovered in Victoria in the 1850s, Melbourne soon became the fastest-growing city in the British empire, and a number of its finer buildings were constructed during this period.

If, like its dowager namesake, Victoria is a little stuffy and old-fashioned, then the state capital of Melbourne is positively old world. For all the talk of Australia's egalitarian achievements, Melbourne society displays an almost European obsession with class. The city is the site of some of the nation's most prestigious schools and universities, and nowhere is it more important to have attended the right one. In a country whose convict ancestors are the frequent butt of jokes, Melburnians pride themselves on the fact that, unlike Sydney, their city was founded by free men and women who came to Victoria of their own accord.

Whatever appearances they maintain, Melburniansdo love their sports, as evidenced by their successful bid to host the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The city is sports mad -- especially when it comes to the glorious, freewheeling Melbourne Cup horse race that brings the entire nation to a grinding halt. The city also comes alive during the Australian Tennis Open, one of the four tennis Grand Slam events, which is held every January at Melbourne Park.

For years Melbourne's city center was seen as an inferior tourist attraction compared with Sydney's sparkling harbor. But a large-scale building development along the Yarra River in the early '90s transformed what was once an eyesore into a vibrant entertainment district known as Southgate. Starting from the charming Alexandria Bridge behind Flinders Street Station, pedestrians can tour through Southgate's myriad bars, shops, and restaurants on the south side of the Yarra River. An assortment of unusual water displays farther along mark the entrance to the Southbank's brash Crown Casino, where gasoline-fueled towers shoot bursts of flames on the hour after dark. Many changes have also taken place in the heart of the city, where Federation Square, a large civic landmark built in 2002, now houses a second branch of the National Gallery of Victoria, the Centre for the Moving Image, the Australian Racing Museum, the Melbourne Visitor Center, and an assortment of shops and restaurants.