Erasmus+ Journal (Issue 2) 2013/14
Ana Ruiz, Spain: The most interesting Places to visit in Graz
Author: Ana Ruiz
As a cultural city full of remainings of different epochs, Graz has many places that are worth being visited. The city has a mixture of beautiful ancient buildings and modern constructions that, together with the typical Austrian nature landscape, give to the city its own amazing presence.
Views of Graz (CC by sa-2.0) Ana Ruiz
Once you are in Graz, you should go to visit the centre of the city. There is located the Hauptplatz, the main square of the city, which has a big fountain in its centre; this place is one of the most common meeting points. As a centre point, around the square there are many shops and a few cafés, but the most important thing located in it is the Rathaus, the city council, which occupies almost one of the Hauptplatz sides.
The Rathaus of Graz (CC by sa-2.0) Ana Ruiz
One of the most interesting things involving the landscape of Graz is that the city is divided in two by a river, the Muhr; and to cross from one side to the other, it has many bridges adapted to pedestrians, cars, trams and bikes. Crossing one of these bridges (in which there are lots of different padlocks with love inscriptions from people that has once been in Graz), just next to the river you can find one of the most contemporary buildings, the Kunsthaus; that is the modern art museum, and its main characteristic is its shape, which reminds as an alien. And not so far from it, you can see a platform in the middle of the river, the Murinsel, which contains an amphitheatre and a restaurant in it.
As a cultural city where the art forms are very important, there are many other museums, such as the Neue Galerie, another art museum, the Museum im Palais, in which you can learn the history of the city and its land, or the Stadtmuseum. Graz counts with an Opera, the Opernhaus, which is the second biggest one of Austria, and also with the Schauspielhaus, where many theatre plays take place.
There are many interesting places to be visited in Graz and there is a way to see all of them together: from the highest point of the city centre, the Schlossberg; it is a 475 metres hill with a park and cafés around it. You can arrive to the top walking or by the Schlossbergbahn, a funicular. There, on the top there is also a beautiful building, the Uhrturm, a big clock tower that can be seen from many points of the city, and a castle. Both of them are illuminated at night, and therefore the views of them from the bottom are amazing at that time.
Views of the Schlossberg and the Uhrturm (CC by sa-2.0) Ana Ruiz
Apart from its cultural sightseeing, Graz hosts every year to lots of Erasmus students who also want to meet new people. Being aware of it, the city counts with many discos -many of them located in a long street named Elisabethstrasse-, where the foreign students have the opportunity to meet with Austrian people. Some of the most known ones are the Three Monkeys or Kultus, but you can also find discos outside that street, as Postgarage, where many Erasmus students go to have a good time.
If you prefer to meet new people in a quieter atmosphere, there are also some pubs and cafés open to people from around the world to exchange experiences with new people; one of them, well-known by many young people, is Flann O'Brien, an Irish Pub with good food and lots of different drinks to offer, with music and screens to watch the sports, where you will not only meet new people, but also find, for sure, other people that you already know, so there is no doubt that if you go there you will have a good time.
So, it doesn’t matter if you prefer the ancient history or the modern one, the nature or the facilities of the city; you can find all what you want in Graz.