Graz, Austria 🇦🇹 2022

Date: 23rd August 2022

Travelled: Public transport around Graz   

Visited:  Graz Hauptplatz and Schlossberg    

Stayed: Graz Sosta, €25, N47.02430, E15.39660  

Budget: 90 days @ €108 per day

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It rained most of the night and it’s still drizzling as we have our coffee. The sosta in Graz looks very wet this morning. The forecast tells us the rain will clear later this morning, so we aim for a late start. Pam did a couple of loads of washing yesterday evening and the Hymer looks a little like a Chinese laundry this morning so there’s plenty to keep us occupied.

There is a lovely Church and cemetery overlooking the sosta, so the following photos were taken yesterday evening between loads.

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About 10am we walk off to the bus stop, manage to purchase a couple of senior reduced day tickets from the machine for €3.60 pp just in time as the #32 glides up to the stop. Less than 20 minutes later we arrive at the Jakominiplatz, the transport interchange in the centrum.

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A little about Graz formally known as Gratz, it’s a sprawling city of more than 700,000 people with a floating population of 60,000 students as the city has 5 universities. Graz is the capital of Austria’s Styria Region and the country’s second largest city. Graz first appears in the record books in 1128, so it’s been here a while.

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The young lady in the tourist office recommends the walking tour and booklet which prove to be a great way of catching most of the interesting sites. Graz is the city of courtyards, just look for a archway and you will most likely find a hidden courtyard.

Our first stop only 50m along is the Landhaus courtyard and its renaissance arches and windows.

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Some more courtyards…

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Looks like we found the door of the day early…

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The Domkirche pictured below was built for Kaiser Friedrich III as the court church in 1464, in 1786 it became the Bishop’s seat and hence a cathedral.

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Just around the corner from the Domkirche we find the Mausoleum of Kaiser Ferdinand II. Considered the most significant Habsburg tomb based on its design and artwork. It was pretty fancy but so was the picture of the red marble sarcophagus I managed to get through a grated hole in the floor.

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We make our way further along the Sackstraße to the Schlossbergbahn funicular. Our day bus ticket entitles us to a free ride up the funicular and its proves to be a lot easier than the 260 steps and series of steep ramps to get up the hill to the Schlossberg.

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It’s just passed 2.30 when we come down the stairs and make our way to the Glockenspielplatz for some liquid refreshments and to watch the glockenspiel ring and perform at 3pm. I should add the glockenspiel sounds for nearly 5 minutes and does get a little repetitive, so the video below is the abridged version.

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So our day in Graz is done, we slowly make our way back to the bus interchange and the #32 back to the sosta. There is still more to do here in Graz it’s a lovely compact city and a pleasure to explore, but we’ve done the best can do in a day..

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Michael + Pam