Graz- The marvelous Saturday trip (3)

Hello all!

As I promised, here is the third chapter of my Saturday journey, called 'Discovering Graz'. After I finished eating probably the best apple cake in the world at Hofbäckerei, I got my way further to the Altstadt (old town). I went the whole way on foot, but coming from the direction of Jakominiplatz you can travel by tram as well. It's only one station distance, so I would definitely choose walking, which is less than 10 minutes.

The old town part of the city emanates a great Mediterranean feeling. Cobble stones everywhere, cafés and restaurants, parasols, monumental houses and elegant shops... You will love it all! Or at least a part of it. I think everyone can find the beauty of the city centre and can see something enjoyable for his or her taste. If you love shopping, then go to the amazingly classy and luxurious boutiques and stores (clothing, shoes, accesories shops). If you are a romantic person loving sunshine, the fragrance of roses, the shade of palms and the smell of espresso, don't hesitate to try out a café, and taste and enjoy the Mediterranean atmosphere. If you're a traveler, keep calm, 'cause you will be exhausted after a long walk on the narrow alleys, and you won't ever decide to stop, you will just walk around endlessly, till your feet are saying: 'STOP'. The environment is like a mass of old and valuable, ornamented and elegant buildings. Just be sure your camera's batteries are full, otherwise you will not be able to capture all the scenes.

Don't forget to visit the Dom and the Mausoleum and of course the one and only Hauptplatz (main square) with the Town Hall/Congress Hall. Both places are frequented by tourists, but not annoyingly crowded.

By the time you finish your walk, you'll probably be hungry. Fortunately there are lot of opportunities to have a meal or snack at Hauptplatz. You will get easily satisfied with soups, or traditional Austrian Currywurst (sausage), even a tasty 100% traditional Arabian kebab or dürüm is quite good, and of course as dessert, the famous Charly Temmel ice-cream.

In my opinion the city represents the meeting of Austrian aristocracy and monumentality with modernist style. By observing the centenarian or even medieval influences in the centre, the journey seems historical. I find it good that they could keep and maintain the centre like this, and didn't change the overall city centre-image by building modern steel and glass buildings in the middle of it. The shops fit just perfectly into the environment, because they are installed in the old buildings. So for example a H&M shop and the bakery dating from the 1600' years seem similar from the outside. And that's so nice and unified.

Eggenberg Castle is left, I will write about it as soon as I can.

P. S. Sorry for the quality of the pictures, I'm not a professional photographer.

Thank you for reading. Bis später! Dóra.

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