We said goodbye to Cividale and also to the sunflowers that we had seen in the area to make our way to Austria and our 5 night stay in Graz.

We made the decision to drive through Slovenia, just because we could, but it may have been a mistake. We did not realise we needed to buy a “toll pass” to drive on the Slovenian roads and you MUST buy it before you enter the country. We didn’t ,so we pleaded ignorance and we hope to avoid a 300 euro fine. Fingers crossed! We will keep you informed! We did buy one for Austria though! We then uneventfully arrived in Graz.

Our apartment in Graz is great and about a 25 minute walk into the old town, so it’s good exercise to offset the beers, sausage and schnitzels! The first night we headed into the Gosser beer garden for beers and our first schnitty! It was delicious.

Graz is a UNESCO listed city, and the second largest city in Austria and also known as “Austria’s capital of delight”. We agree.

Our first day, we decided to do a self guided walk through the old town. Of course, we started with a coffee at one of the oldest coffee houses in Graz, Cafe Konig. We immediately noticed the increase in price and the reduction in quality as what we were accustomed to in Italy. The main street in Graz, Herrengasse is reserved for pedestrians, cycles and trams. The Hauptplatz, the main square, has the magnificent town hall, or Rathaus along with the Arch Duke Johann’s fountain built in 1878. The buildings around the square were stunning. The stucco facade of the Luegghaus featured fruit and flowers.

The Landhaus is where the regional parliament sits and the inner courtyard was rather spectacular as was the facade of “The Painted House” decorated with frescoes dating back to 1742.

The Cathedral was built by Kaiser Frederich the third between 1438 and 1464. The Mausoleum of Kaiser Ferdinand the second was rather amazing and is considered to be “the most significant Habsburg tomb in terms of Art History”. We then wandered through the picturesque Glockenspiel Platz but were there 10 minutes late for the show, it only happens 3 times a day.

Last stop on the tour was the Opera House, built in 1899, so rather modern for the city. It was lovely wandering through cobbled laneways ad small streets.

It was a great day, but Greg’s knees told him otherwise, nearly 18,000 steps and nearly 12 kms! That night we worked out the tram system. A 5 minute walk to the tram stop and at a cost of 1.90 euros for an hour ticket, that is what is happening form now on!

The following day was another self guided walk, this time “Historic and Modern” so we ventured across the Mur River. We wandered through the very cute Franziskaneviertel Quarter, also known as the “Veal Quarter “due to the old tradition of loads of butcher shops that were there.

Then we crossed the river to see The exhibition House built in 2003. It is called the Kunsthaus, and in Rhonda’s opinion it was horrible but Greg thought it was ok. Then it was onto the Mariahilferplatz to see the magnificent Franziskaner Church built at the beginning of the 17th century with the double towers added in 1742. The cloisters were lovely.

We needed to rest so we found our way to the Lendplatz Market for a well earned drink. There were lots of people being a Saturday and Greg’s knees needed lubricating, so a beer and aperol were in order.

To return to the old town across the river, we went via the Murinsel, a floating shell linked by a footbridge. Interesting! We then saw the steps or the Schlossbergstiege, one of the 4 ways to get to the top of the Sclossberg, where the castle is. They were carved into the cliffs by the prisoners of the first world war. Luckily there is also a lift and a funicular.

The last stop of the day was into the Stadtphrrkirche where we had read that in the stained glass windows you can find Hitler and Mussolini. A little background, the windows were destroyed by bombs in WW11. The windows were re created by Albert Binkle, a German whose work was declared “degenerate” by Hitler. After the war he obtained Austrian citizinship. In the 1950’s he was commissioned to paint the new windows and he used the chance to “immortalise Hitler and Mussolini as betrayers of Christ”. See if you can spot them? The next blog will tell you where they are.

We arrived back in Hautsplatz and needed watering and feeding so it was a beer and currywurst lunch. For dinner it was Weiss wurst with mustard and salad, a real sausage day!

Even though we caught the tram into and out of the old town, we still did nearly 11,000 steps and 8 kms! Not a bad effort!

The following day we took another tram ride out to the Schloss Eggenberg (UNESCO listed palace). In 1625 Prince Johann Ulrich Von Eddenberg built the palace themed around “macrocosmic” symbols. It has 4 towers (4 seasons) 12 gates (months of the year) and 365 windows (yep you guessed it) and no we didn’t count them! You could have paid 17 euros to do a one and half guided tour in German but we opted to pay 2 euros to wander around the beautiful gardens.

That night we ventured back in to see what Graz was like at night. It wasn’t quite as lit up as we expected but it was still very pretty.

We had one last area of the city to explore. We headed to the Sclossberg. For over 1000 years a castle stood on top of the hill and it could never be taken which earned it a place in the Giuness Book of Records. It was built in 1809 after the victory of the French over the Habsburgs, Napoleon forced the people of Graz to demolish the fortress , however the people of Graz made sure the Clock Tower was spared by paying money! Well done to the people of Graz as it is a monument that symbolises the city.

The Clock Tower is a fortified Medieval Tower dating back to around 1560. The wooden galleries are fire stations and the clock has “apparently” struck the hour precisely since 1712. The views from the Schloss over the city of Graz were amazing.

We had a coffee on the 6th floor rooftop cafe of Kastner and Ohler, a high end department store. The coffees were expensive but worth paying the extra for the view. It was a tad early for a glass of champers.

Our last lunch in Graz had to be another currywurst and beer, cause they are so good!

We have enjoyed our time in Graz a lot. It is a beautiful city. Tomorrow we head to “The Sound of Music” country. The hills will be alive with…..something we hope. The weather here has been pretty good, had a bit of rain but temps have been high 20’s, so bearable. The reports for our next stay is a little cooler, may even need a heater on at night!!!!

So auf wiedersehen from Graz.

It’s that time,time to pack!

Lots of love

Greg and Rhonda

xxx