"The Capital City of Styria" Graz by elgin99

This charming town is after Vienna the second largest city in Austria and the capital city of Styria.
Graz has approx. 240,000 inhabitants, of whom approx 28,000 are students. This because the town has three universities.

The center and the symbol of Graz is the Schlossberg (473 ms) with its interesting clock and fascinating view over the town (and more).

Graz from Schlossberg

The local Mountain of Graz is the Schöckl (1445 ms), to the north of the city.
Graz lies on the eastern edge of the central Alps and on either side of the Mur river.

Graz has an great history.
In late 10th century slavs built a castle on the Schlossberg which later gave the city its name (gradec = little castle).
: Graz was first documented in 1128.
Friedrich III. of Habsburg, whos favourite residence was Graz (Emporer of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" in 15th century) made Graz to a imperial city.

Hauptplatz, Graz

In 1999 Graz is nominated by UNESCO as world Cultural-Heritage-Site
In 2003 Graz was Cultural Capital of Europe.

Very often I visited this town, because there lived some relatives. Graz was my first travel after reunification, and before. But this is a very long and special story.

------page will be soon updated, under construction------

• Pros:fascinating architecture, a great experience, cutural town
• Cons:nothing