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Weekend in Graz, Austria

It's the country's second largest city, but somehow, people don't necesarilly think of Graz when talking about Austria. The thing is that it's a beautiful city, with a unique feel and many fine attractions.

Schlossberg is a wonderful city space. It's a hill in the city that once was the site of a fortress that protected the city. There are still some ruins of the fortress there, the rest of the hill being covered with forests, parks and entertainment areas. The great thing about the space are the wonderful view over the city from there. NIce zig-zag stairs climb to the top of the hill.

While on the hill of Schloßberg, we paid a visit to the iconic Clock Tower. It's a medieval clock tower with large wooden balconies, a beautiful garden and, of course, wonderful panoramic views from there.

The Old Town of Graz is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. It's a beautiful area with historical buildings, narrow streets and small cute squares. We admired the medieval and Renaissance architecture while walking on the streets of the old town.

Hauptplatz is the city’s main square and a place for activities in the city, like festivals, markets and other events. The square is surrounded by buildings housing Rathaus or Town Hall and residential buildings.

We also paid a visit Graz Cathedral, the beautiful Gothic Roman cathedral built in 15th century.

The city of Graz is crossed by Mur River. Murinsel is a modern "island", a beautiful man-made structure of steel and glass floating on the river and housing a theater and a cafe.

We also visited another modern landmark. Graz Art Museum is based in a futuristic building with a shapeless roof and holds exhibits of co contemporary art.

We started our second day with Kaiser-Josef-Platz Market, the most popular market in the city. The salls are full of local products, most of them organic. It's a nice colourful area where local people sell fresh fruit, vegetables, bread and not only.

We then took a walk in the nice Graz Park. It's a peaceful place where people come to picnic, relax, do some sport activities.

We then went to see the famous double spiral stairs inside the Burg, this beautiful 15th century castle.

We left the city center for a bit and went to visit impressive Eggenberg Palace with its Baroque architecture, gardens and ponds. There's also a cafe there.

We came back in the center and checked Landeszeughaus, the museum of armory. The museum includes thousands of pieces of weaponry from the 15th to 19th centuries and artifacts used in wars.

We ended our visit in Graz with a visit to Landhaus Courtyard, where we admired the elegant Renaissance palace with arched windows and this beautiful courtyard of arcades.