Visiting Graz

Graz is a city full of culture. In fact, it was European Capital of Culture in 2003. It offers enough museums, galleries, theatres, and opera houses (ok, well, just one opera house) to make your head spin. So where do my owners go first thing this morning? To the Puntigamer brewery. Not that I am complaining, mind. The beer does taste better at the source and the food in the brewery restaurant is excellent.

I think we are starting to see a trend here. I noticed several Czech Republic destinations such as Pilsen, Budweis, etc. making my owners’ list of must-sees in future travels. Looks like there’s no danger of us going thirsty en route.

I have to say that I can very much live with my owners’ attitude to sightseeing. It’s fine in small doses, but there is a limit to how many museums, churches and other sights that you can take in at a time. They, like me, also like to just sit and soak up the atmosphere of a place.

‘Soak’ being the operative word…

In the afternoon, the museums and galleries were again eschewed, this time in favour of the botanical garden.  It turned out to be rather disappointing in terms of presentation – it seems to be first and foremost a research facility rather than laid out as a public attraction – but I liked the setting in leafy suburbia, surrounded by grandiose villas. And I got to see bananas trees and pineapple plants! The cacti were a little scary though.

Talking about scary: at one point, back in the city centre, we sat down at the fountain on one of the many town squares for a short rest. After a few moments, I noticed that practically every single person on the square was glued to their smart phone. One or two made an occasional remark to the person sitting beside them, but without taking their eyes off the screen for a second. Otherwise, the square was eerily quiet. It felt like we had landed on another planet. Then realisation dawned… Pokémon Go has come to town!

Weird.

Elsewhere in the city the atmosphere was most pleasant, especially in the evenings in the old town. Temperatures were balmy and the bars and restaurants with tables outside were doing a roaring trade. It was striking how few tourists there were. The clientele was mainly Austrian, eating and drinking both local and ethnic fare at very affordable prices. Graz is surely one of Austria’s best kept secrets.

Shhh! Don’t tell anyone.