48 Days IN GRAZ
At present a Unesco 'City of Design', this Austrian jewel is stuffed with good-looking middle ages and punching new age architecture. Chris Leadbeater explores
Austria's second-largest city is known as a heady mish-mash of the
gracefully old and the daringly new. This past yr, it was
anointed a 'Unesco City Of Design' -- an accolade that's got until now
been gave to simply two other Eu towns (Berlin and St-
Etienne), and is just rewarded to towns which will boast set forth
design and inventive industries.
TOUCH DOWN
;
air link, flying four times 1 week from Stansted to an airport which
fabrications some five miles south of town rectify. Exchange selections are
abounding. Taxis about the center cost about EUR 20 for a 15
drive, whilst bus services 630 and 631 leave frequently from outdoors
the departures hallway, and take 20 minute to deposit you at the
transport hub of Jakominiplatz (2)..
Alternatively, the rail station lurks a quick wander from inside the
airport. Educates hurry to Graz in 10 minute, reaching the chief
Hauptbahnhof (3), on Europaplatz. Tickets for this -- and all singular
bus,
(you possibly can make use of the ticket recurrently for sixty minutes).
GET YOUR BEARINGS
Graz 's the finances of Styria, the instant broadest of Austria's
nine alleges (lander). Pitched 120 miles south of Vienna, it belongs
to which (comparatively) flatter south-easterly edition of Austria which
faces off of the Alps, ebbing towards Slovenia, and the Adriatic
over.
Town is known as a tale of 2 river financial institutions, the Mur separating the
middle ages kernel within the east from inside the once grubby but at present aspirational
Lend district within the west. But both facets are captured within the shadow
of the Schlossberg, a crag which, even though no more home about the 14th-
century citadel which handed it its name, still brandishes its 1,558ft
summit beyond the old the city.
CHECK IN
TAKE A HIKE
Come from Mariahilferplatz (8), the heart of Lend. This sector has
bloomed because Graz took its turn as Eu Finances of Culture in
2003, and is abuzz with pubs and stores.
Run after Mariahilferstrasse northern, turn right on to Okonomiegasse,
so therefore cross the Mur via a city's most punching novelty. A metal-like
floating island connected about the financial institutions by two bridges, the Murinsel
(9) was concocted by Ny designer Vito Acconci included in the
2003 festivities. It was implied to be short-term, but has proven so
well liked which it resides on eight years later, its otherworldly shell
holding a youngsters' back yard and coffee house.
WINDOW SHOPPING
Enticement also takes the shape of Kastner & Oehler (16) (00 43
;, a 1913 dept shop at
Sackstrasse 7.
Luncheon ON THE Rush
Kastner & Oehler also brag Freiblick, a stylish top-floor coffee house
where you possibly can gaze throughout the Unesco-lauded orange roofing of Graz
.
Ethnic Mid-day
Much of the important ethnic institutions in Graz are assembled
together as what exactly is efficiently a singular memorial, the Universalmuseum
;. Visitors can purchase
passes which grant go into to as frequently culture given that they would like in a
weekend -- a 24-hour pass is EUR 11, a 48-hour pass costs EUR 17 --
from any of the taking part institutions.
These encompass the Memorial im Palais (17), at Sackstrasse 16 (00 43
;, that exhibits paraphernalia of
the Styrian nobility. There are a number of interesting showcases,
adding up duelling paintball guns and jousting shield. Open 10am-6pm, each day
except Monday; EUR 8.
AN APERITIF
Stick around in Lend and sink a pint of Gosser -- a Styria-brewed
Austrian lager -- at Die Scherbe (18), a pub with a bohemian vibe at
;.
Dinning WITH THE Residents
SUNDAY MORNING: Run to Chapel
But still, its noticably moment is found outdoors, on its south
fence. Das Gottesplagenbild, a 1485 fresco, shows town assailed
by epidemic and assault from invading Ottoman Turks. Alongside, the
mausoleum of Ferdinand II, Hapsburg king from 1619 to 1637,
dazzles with gilded magnificence (each day,.
TAKE A RIDE
Get back to the river and snap up the Schlossbergbahn (23) (00 43
;; each day 9am-2am; four departures for each
hour;.
This late 19th-century funicular rail tackles Graz's talismanic
crag at an implausible angle, and carts you about the top of the
Schlossberg in only three minute.
OUT TO BRUNCH
A Wander Within the PARK
THE ICING ON THE Pie
CAPTION: Out from THIS WORLD: The Kunsthaus memorial is understood by
residents as 'the cordial alien' NEW AND OLD: From top, the floating
Murinsel; Jakominiplatz, the city's transport hub; and the Uhrturm
stands beyond town as a civic hallmark
