Graz, 11th – 13th September

The train from Vienna to Graz was swift and uneventful, comfortable seats and lovely scenery combined to make it a very pleasant trip. We arrived at Graz station and made our way to the Europlatz where we boarded the 52 bus for a couple of stops. After a 10 minute walk at the end of the bus ride we found our way to the apartment. We were met by Mandy, who was from Kent, and she showed us around and explained how to get into the centre of the city.


View from the train window of the Austrian alps

The apartment was lovely. Bright, airy and clean. We quickly changed and made our way into the old city. Graz is very pretty, mixing old narrow streets with a couple of wide, tram-filled boulevards. A river runs through the centre, splitting the town into two. I had a couple of Austrian beers and Belinda enjoyed an Aperol Spritz before we explored a little more. Eventually we settled down for a pizza (gluten-free for Belinda of course)  and then wandered slowly back to the apartment, buying some breakfast things for tomorrow on the way. It was pretty hot during the day and the apartment was overly warm. It had an air conditioner, but we found no way to turn it on so we had a warm, unsettled night.


The clock tower, the most famous Graz land mark

Next morning we made breakfast and I tucked heartily into my various mini-pastries with relish. This lasted all of 30 seconds before I was exclaiming sadly to Belinda that they were full of nuts 😳. I had chosen three different ones, and each one was based on nuts – I was a very sad, and hungry, boy!

Nether the less we ventured into the city for a second day, this time taking a different route and getting on one of the trams. They are free for a couple of stops in any direction in the centre of the old-town, so we took advantage of this and managed to avoid a couple of km walk in the morning sun. We alighted at the very posh department store called Kastner & Ohler where we had a lovely, if expensive, croissant and coffee. The shop was very smart indeed, a cut about the John Lewis (for the UK readers) or Myer (for Australian readers) stores.

We then made our way to the funicular railway and zipped up the side of the hill to the famous clock tower which overlooks the town. We descended via a lift although we could have taken a 60m long slide if we had felt the urge – maybe next time!


Funicular train

We then went and visited the Schloss Eggenberg, a castle/stately home in the north of the city. By the time we arrived it wasn’t really worth paying the money to enter, but we had a pleasant walk around the gardens and a browse of the shop. The castle itself was most impressive, built by a close friend of the Hapsburgs, showing that it isn’t what you know but who you know that matters sometimes !

I again had pizza for dinner while Belinda had a rather nice salad. We retired to the apartment and turned on the air conditioning as night fell and had a glass of wine before turning in for the night. Tomorrow we leave early to catch the train to Ljubljana (The owner of the apartment had provided us with a remote for the air conditioning unit when we met him in the lift that morning. It seems the original one had gone walkabout)


Leaving Schloss Eggenberg

Goodbye Austria -for now !!