"Arcades and Lanes" free self guided walk in Melbourne

Block Arcade

Melbourne is a wonderful city to explore on foot. It offers a lot to see in its CBD area. There are various companies offering guided walks for a fee, or you can just go wandering yourself to explore. Perhaps the best way is to go on one of the City of Melbourne’s free self-guided walks.

When I was down in Melbourne recently to see the musical “Wicked” I dropped into the Visitor Information Centre under Federation Square. I picked up a brochure on the “Arcades and Lanes” Self Guided Walk. This compact brochure was a handy size to fit in my pocket or wallet. It folded out to provide directions, a brief commentary and a handy map of the walk.

The walk commenced at Federation Square and went along Degraves St, Flinders Lane, Centre Place, Centre Way, Block Arcade, Block Place, Royal Arcade, Little Burke St, Niagara Lane, Hardware Lane, Galleria Place, Little Collins St, Howey Place, Capital Arcade, Manchester Unity Arcade, Scott Alley and Port Phillip Arcade.

You may need to adapt the walk, as on the Sunday morning I did the walk I found Galleria Place and Port Phillip Arcade closed.

Gog and Magog

The walk includes many historical gems of bygone days, ranging from heavy hardware items to intricate decorative items. I found the Gog and Magog’s statues (1892) that strike bells on the hour fascinating. These are found in the Royal Arcade, the oldest shopping arcade in Australia (1892). The Block Arcade (1893) was beautiful with it s colorful mosaics and quaint shops.

The "Arcades and Lanes" walk covers a distance of 2.5 kilometres and can be walked in 1.5 hours. However, this depends on how long you pause to take in the sights. There are many cafes, coffee shops and restaurants along the way for refreshment stops.

I suppose that any one walk cannot include all arcades and lanes in the CBD of Melbourne. It was disappointing that the Cathedral Arcade (1925) was not part of this tour. This is a spectacular art deco arcade that is fully covered by stained glass and leadlights in its arched ceilings that lead to a central dome.

Royal Arcade

This was walk no. 4 in a series of Melbourne self guided walks. Other walks included “A walk in the park”, “Secret Gardens”, “On the waterfront”, “the Cosmopolitan”, and “Elegant Enclave”. These walks vary in length from 1.5 to 2.5 hours, and all start and end at Federation, though they can be commenced at any stage of the walk.

For more information about these walking tours, and downloadable PDF maps, go to:
http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/visitors/WalksItineraries/Walks/Pages/Walks.aspx

For more information about things to do when visiting Melbourne go to: http://www.visitmelbourne.com