We started the day with a pretty mundane trip to Graz today, well it started out that way. Motorway all the way with walls on both sides so that we couldn’t see the scenery even if we tried. However as we progressed this changed into an undulating forestland with pockets of clearings on the hillsides that looked like cropping and grazing, but we didn’t see any evidence of the stock. We were in Graz by lunchtime and too early to check in so we decided that a walk around the city would be the order of the day.
Graz is Austria’s second largest city and the thing that is notable is that Arnold ‘the Governator’ Schwarzenegger was born near here, but there is no evidence of that fact that we could see. What we did see as we walked from our hostel into the city was a mixture of old Austrian architecture, sitting alongside the funky. And when I say funky I mean really weird in a cool kind of way. One of the walking bridges across the River Mur, is a stainless steel affair that winds across the river. In the middle is a café that nestles inside a cocoon that also houses a kids playground, including a large rope climbing complex. Very cool and totally unexpected. Directly opposite on the bank is the Kunsthaus Graz, a large building that looks like an aliens interpretation of a puffer fish. Put this against the backdrop of grand old buildings that you would expect to see here.
We walked along the river and then took the Schlossbergbahn funicular railway up the hill to the Schlossberg (castle hill). We decided not to walk up the 60 degree incline and reserve that treat for coming down. Instead of the funicular we could have taken the lift which sounds like it goes right up inside the hill, carved out of the stone. Once up ther you get a pretty good overview of the city, looking over the terracotta roof lines, down over the gardens of the peoples bastion, with the bell tower and clock tower rising above you. Despite this once being the site of a castle there is not much of the castle to bee seen.
After taking the stairs back down to street level we found an old tunnel that ran through the hill. Evidently this was part of the complex of tunnels built as bomb shelters during WWII to house 40,000 people, and hewn directly out of the rock. Very cool … it really was … it was cold in there. I nice refuge from the heat outside though.
After this we stumbled upon the cathedral and went in for a look. While we were there we heard them tuning up, and overdressed people turning up. We overheard that they were about to hold a concert. So we thought we would sit down and see how long we could stay before we were asked to leave. They shut the doors and the pipe organ started up and soon took over the whole presence of the interior, with the odd squeak of another instrument or a voice. It was very dramatic and powerful, but extremely dark and foreboding sounding. It sounded like something out of ‘The Adams Family’. We decided in very quickly that the doors were shut to keep people in, not to keep people out. So once they broke into prayer we managed to skulk out the way we had gone in. It was very weird, and we still aren’t sure exactly what it was all about, but it certainly wasn’t the usual service. Note to self ... don't trust what you overhear.
There is another church here which has stained glass windows that depict Hitler and Mussolini on either side of Jesus. Hmmmm … perhaps they have gone out of their way to perfect the weird.
But we were on a mission to find the Glockenspiel, but we missed it. We were on a mission to feed our stomachs and that took priority today. So then it was ‘home James’. And what a pleasant surprise ‘home’ was today. This is the best one that we have had for a while. A large room, with private bathroom and separate private toilet. This is heaven. What a shame that we are only staying here one night.
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