Exploring the Second City of Austria: Graz

Although Graz is Austria’s second largest city, it is often overlooked by tourists planning to spend their holidays in favour of Vienna, Salzburg or the skiing resorts of the Tirol. This is a great shame, as this historic city, located to the far south-east of the country, has such a lot to offer.  

Take its ‘Old Town’, which is often considered to be one of the best-preserved city centres in Europe and recently designated UNESCO World Heritage status. Here visitors will discover many of its historical landmarks, to include the architecturally impressive Rathaus (Town Hall), the gothic Dom Cathedral and Uhrturm clocktower, the city’s most identifiable landmark, which dominates the city skyline, high upon the steep Schlosberg hill.

Graz was proudly named the European Capital of Culture in 2003, a fact which is reflected in its wonderfully diverse collection of museums and galleries. If you only have the time to visit just a handful, I would highly recommend the Schloss Eggenberg Art Gallery, the city’s Natural History Museum and the Kunsthaus: a visually stunning modern building which houses an impressive exhibition of contemporary art. 

It may come as surprise to many visitors to discover that due to the city’s unique geographical location, it enjoys Austria’s mildest and driest climate. The city also boasts more sunshine hours than both Vienna and Salzburg. This means that the plant life to be found in the city’s numerous parks and open spaces are uniquely more akin to that of the Mediterranean, rather than that of the rest of Austria.

So, if you fancy discovering all that Graz has to offer, why not check-out the following official website address: http://www.graz.at/EN

The Austrian Spring Festival

For four days in May or June, music and contemporary visual arts transform the Austrian settlement of Graz into an even more magical city. Graz is known for its traditional charm and is, in fact, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. This, juxtaposed with contemporary electronic music and arts, creates a fantastically unearthly atmosphere that is something to be experienced. 

The festival takes place sometime in May each year, and features an intriguing international line up from the world of electronic culture, including music and art. There is usually a variety of events, from concerts in large venues to street performances of music and visual arts. The contemporariness, if there is such a word, of Spring may be hard to reconcile with the ‘high culture’ character of Graz, but the contradiction is part of the festival’s charm and makes it what it is! 

The most fascinating venue sported by the Spring is probably the Dom Im Berg, which is situated under a mountain in the centre of Graz! Schlossberg is a hillock or mountain in the centre of Graz with a castle or Schloss on top of it; the tunnels under which were once used as air raid shelters. Today, this subterranean maze has been converted into three ultra-chic concert spaces, which form part of the Spring Festival each year. 

Graz itself is an important tourist and visitor’s attraction to begin with, being Austria’s second largest city and a World Heritage Site. So accommodation and other logistics are taken care of for festival goers, who can find plenty of options to suit their budget. 

The dates for this year’s Austrian Spring Festival are Wednesday 29^th May to Sunday 2^nd June. You can get a full four day pass for fewer than €90. You can find lots more information, including the scheduled line up, as and when it becomes available at http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/springaus/2013/

Grazing in Graz

One thing that is often overlooked in Styria is Graz—the culinary capital of Austria. Our hotel was close to Lendplatz where the local farmer’s market is held every day apart from Sundays. The gorgeous smell as you approach the farmer’s market is amazing, and the produce is very fresh. Homemade bread and fresh apricots are two things that stood out—a great way to start a morning. There is also a market held in Kaiser Josef Platz.

Before sampling the food, we took several sightseeing tours around Graz to check out the Schlossberg (castle mountain), Rathaus (town hall), and the Landeszeughaus, which is the biggest armory in the world. In addition, there are dozens of museums ranging from botanical gardens to the modern art museum (Kunsthaus Graz).

The food and beer in Graz was something special, though. Gösser Bräu, a restaurant in the old town, has its own brewery, which produces a very nice lager. The goulash is exceptional and reminded us of the Hungarian goulashes we’ve tried over the years. We also went to Cafe Sacher, a Venetian-style coffeehouse restaurant. While the prices were a little high, the quality of the food was even higher, and we had an amazing time surrounded by opulence.

Near the Stadtpark is a great little restaurant called Starcke Haus. The best time to go is for lunch, as you will be able to see all of Graz from this hillside location. We thoroughly enjoyed relaxing in the sun, and the downhill walk to our hotel was nice and easy.

Graz has some incredible food, and the city has styles that suit both those wanting authentic Austrian cuisine and those wanting something more contemporary. The city is known as the culinary capital of Austria, which is a well-deserved title. Admittedly it helps that the city has easy access to a wide variety of fresh high-quality produce, including Almenland beef, Hochschwab game, and Pöllauer Hirschbirne, which is a type of pear.
In total, it has easy access to 15 different foods that have protected status including pork, pumpkinseed oil, and cheeses as well. The means the chefs of Graz have a great range of ingredients to produce a great range of food. Wherever we were in Graz, the local restaurants never failed to impress us, and we always arrived at our hotel feeling full and satisfied.