Afternoon walk to Schlossberg and the Clock Tower

Saturday afternoon was pretty warm and at times sunny so I wanted to go out for an hour or two after lunch. And I thought the best would be to go to the highest point of Graz in the centre - the Schlossberg and visit the Clock Tower. Both of them are the landmarks of Graz.

From Annenstraße over the bridge to Murgasse and Schloßberger Platz

It was round 3 p. m. when I left the apartment. Since I have the luxury of having a balcony here I checked how warm was it outside and what are the people wearing down on the street. About 10 degrees with some sun through the greyish clouds seemed to be just fine. I took my jacket and put the headphones on, the analog camera into the right hand and off we go!

It took again ca 8-10 minutes till the bridge, this time walking on the other side of the street just to see it from a bit different perspective and pay attention to the details on the side. Passing by the Kunsthaus and Diagonale flags (my everyday I guess... until March and then we will see). I forgot to mention earlier that once on the bridge you can see the Murinsel (The Mur Island) to your left (or the northern side). It looks like a futuristic ship and is connected with the western river bank with one bridge. It was built more than 10 years ago when Graz was nominated in 2003 for the European Cultural Capital. You can drink coffee or something there. I have never been there but plan to visit it. Luckily, since Graz is much much smaller than Vienna it also does not offer so many things so I think I can allow myself visiting all the must-see attractions and museums.

After walking through Murgasse and reaching the Main Square I just turned to the left into Sackstraße and in 2 minutes was already at the Schloßberger Square.

It has been 3 years since I came here with my host brothers from Carinthia who are also studying in Graz. I looked up in front of me and saw the very familiar scenery which reminds me of Dunharrow from the Return of the King (the mountain with the stairs where that go zig-zag). And saw was it almost here. On the very top was the clock tower and lots of stairs going zig-zag. I decided to simply start climbing up and then spontaneously roam around without some plans except for ending up at the clock tower.

Walking around Schloßberg and discovering the area

I took several photos on my way up and present you them here too. I enjoyed climbing up as it has lots of things to see from above, it is good for recreation or something but what I find great are numerous banks where you can sit on. I wish I could go there when having some free time and when the weather is going to be warmer and with more sun to write into my diary or just illustrate something. This is probably the only perfect place in whole Graz for that. I would have done that already today had I had more time. And the road has every 10-15 minutes two more roads going into different directions. I notice one leading you more to the northern side around the hill and I have never been there before. My curiosity had the last word and I went following the new path.

What I again liked here is that climbing is not boring, goes around the rocks and cliffs, up and down, has again more paths above and you can choose where you want to go. After 10 minutes of walking and stopping every here and there to take photos and look around I came to some cable car. I waited a bit but did not see any of them going up or down. The road there again had two more directions and I wanted to see where the one below the cable car went but I found out it goes somewhere down. So I returned and headed into the direction of the top.

What I also noticed is there were lots of graffiti on the cliffs, many of them actually looked interesting. And there was one passage that went straight through the cliff so it felt like in movies (Indiana Jones! ). You can also find many tables with some info on the authors (architects), historic events, monuments or vegetable next to the fence. I was approaching now the top and saw the castle (the castle is in German "Schloß or Schloss"). After few minutes of going zig-zag through the forest I was next to the castle.

On top of the hill and the Clock Tower

First thing I saw was some cafe house on the edge that looked pretty cool and might visit it during the last weeks of my stay here when it is going to be warmer. The problem here on the top that especially became more than obvious is that the wind is pretty strong. Actually anything you feel as a wind is nothing to be compared with the one around the Clock Tower. Everything and everyone flies in the air.

In front of the castle's walls there was a well where you can throw the coins and behind it more roads leading to the Clock Tower or to the other side of the hill and behind the castle. I decided to make a circle around first and went climbing up. I have also never been up on the other side but remember this path when walking with my host brothers. After few minutes I was in some garden on the top and passed by the Garrison Museum (the remains of the castle today? ), some tower which is then also at the highest point in Graz and the cable car station (Seilbahn). Few more meters forward and there was a stage that used to be the barracks and some kind of the jail centuries earlier. Today is being used a stage and you can actually climb it, the entrance was on the other side down.

I made a circle around it, checked what was in the park next to me and then went down the road to the stage. Took a photo from the inside and went in the direction of the clock tower.

The clock tower looks pretty attractive and the first thing that you are going to notice is that the bigger clock hand is showing the hours and the smaller one the minutes. Both of them are golden so I guess for the citizens of the town in the past it was much more important to see which hour of the day it was rather than minutes and the golden clock hands were able to reflect the sun light and be more visible. Or just to show off.

It was very strong wind there and you had to stay on one side of the tower that would protect you. I took my analog camera here and did some shots. In the garden below the clock tower (which looks especially nice in summer with vivid colours) were the flags of Diagonale Festival. And you have a nice panorama view from here. If you are not taken away by the wind of course.

I went downstairs into the garden and took more photos and check what could be seen from above. On the other side of the river is the Kunsthaus with its outstanding shape, a bit to the left then the main square and far away... well, I do not know yet and did not care much. Below the wall you could see the numerous roads going zig-zag until ending ultimately at the Schloßberger Square. After few minutes I went downstairs through some bunker-like stairs. In the middle of the stairs on the pretty vertical part of the hill there was a guy playing a violin.

I decided to go to the main square but nothing special was happening and was sort of empty in the middle. I went into a random street and made a circle back to the bridge near the Kunsthaus, took a few photos and then was a bit tired and went straight home.

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