The Jay-Blog: Graz

July 06, 2003

Graz

Vienna to Graz

Back in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Yesterday I took a three-hour train ride from Vienna to Graz, passing through hills and valleys that reminded me of Southern Germany and Switzerland. Graz is having a heat wave. For the last hour of the trip, I pushed down the window to cool my face in the wind.

Graz

The five-hundred year old clocktower on the hill dominates the old city of Graz. Most of the old town seems to date to the same period. My restaurant one evening was built in 1538.

The baroque Landeshaus, now the site of free concerts. I listened to a piano concert on my way to dinner one evening.

Downtown is chock full of medieval buildings, inner courtyards, and narrow lanes.

Here is the oldest bakery in town.

The hill in the town center was circled with fortifications until Napoleon's troops blew them up. An arboretum replaced the ruined defences. These hornbeam trees are several centuries old.

Graz's most famous export is native son Arnold Schwartzenegger. The area is also known for its pumpkin oil and wines.

In the mid-1500s, the Ottoman Turks raped and pillaged parts of Styria. The locals invested heavily in weaponry to fend off the invaders. They still own this stuff -- armor, swords, pistols, halbards, pikes. The Tower of London has lots of this sort of thing, but no where near as much as the Zeughaus in Graz.

I was hot, tired, and exhausted when I saw a non-descript door with a sign noting the burg garten lay behind it. Bliss. I marvelled at the colors on the framework of my park bench.

In the last afternoon and evening, people spill out onto the sidewalks. Strolling musicians play, people eat and drink, and people-watching is the primary sport.

Graz is the European Community Culture Capital of Europe for 2003. Performances are conducted on this large boat floating in the river Mur. Odd art abounds.

Click to check it out.

My last night in town, I supped on plaice at a restaurant built in 1538.

Fischamend

Sunday I took the train from Graz to Wien, and then a bus to the village of Fischamend, a speck on the Fischa River about four kms. upstream from where it joins the Danube. This town does have a thing for fish.

The fish tower (left) was built in 1051.
Fishabend's city seal adorns City Hall.

I had a lovely lunch of St Petersfisch in white wine sauce with pink peppercorns in the garden behind the Gasthof Goldenes Kreuz. Great palacsintas (Hungarian crepes) for desert.

Life is good.

After lunch I wandered through the village
and along the banks of the river Fischa.

Posted by jaycross at July 6, 2003 11:26 AM | TrackBack

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