"Graz - capital of Styria!" a Graz Travel Page by coccinella169

When I was studying in Graz there was the saying that Graz is a city with on one hand a huge number of students, and on the other hand with a huge number of retirees, and that there is not much in between. Well, it is definitely correct that there are a lot of students in Graz because there is Austria`s second largest university (Karl Franzens Universität), and most young people from Styria and Carinzia move there after finishing school.
Graz in my eyes is on one hand very conservative, where you can see people wearing traditional styrian clothes on the street and with traditional values as well, on the other you have some interesting movements regarding innovative art, architecture and theatre. Especially on occasion of Graz being european capital of culture in 2003, some new artworks were displayed in the city of Graz- samples are the Murinsel or the Marienlift. An interesting new building you could pay a visit is the Kunsthaus (called "friendly alien" , when you see it you`ll know why:)).

Graz is a city which is especially nice in spring, when there are a lot of people strolling in the centre and everything is in bloom. Graz then seems to have an almost mediterannean air. Don`t miss to get you an ice cream from the Temmel shop in the Herrengasse then :). And I love it in autumn, when there are stands selling Maroni (chestnuts) and Sturm (a rather sweet wine you only get in autumn).

1999 the old centre of Graz was added to the list of Unesco world heritages because it is a very unique and harmonious blend of various architectural styles. You can discover a lot of gems like the house on the picture in Graz. The house is called "Herzogshof" or simply "gemaltes Haus"- and the paintings show gods of greek-roman mythology.