November 2, 2004, Internet Cafe Sitīn Surf, Graz, Austria,
2:05 pm
The "Uhrturm" - the clocktower, Graz' most well known sight
I finally found Internet access here in Graz. Not the
easiest thing I have to admit. Had to ask 3 people and finally
went to the tourist info who competently directed me to an Internet
Cafe.
The last few days have been interesting. The first day my sister-in-law
and I took a little tour through my home town of Weiz, and in
the 8 years that I haven't been here there has been a lot of
change. New buildings, renovations, traffic reorganization.
It almost felt like being in a different place.
On Saturday my brother, sister-in-law and I started our little
weekend tour to Slovenia
and Italy.
We drove on the highway to Austria's border with Slovenia (only
about 45 minutes from my home town). Then we continued on for
about another hour and 15 minutes to the capital of Slovenia,
Ljubljana. We parked the car by the river and took a little
walk to the central market. The place was just packed and you
can buy anything from fresh bread to meat, sausages, fish, vegetables,
fruit, flowers. People were out in full force, even shopping
for candles for the annual trip to the cemetery. After all it
was the weekend of All Saints Day and people take their cemetery
duties very seriously in Central Europe.
We walked through the old town with its cobble-stoned streets
and then started the steady climb up to the castle hill. At
the top is an old castle with a renovated tower that can be
accessed. You get to the top through a really interesting winding
staircase and once outside, there is a beautiful 360 degree
view of the surrounding area, including the limestone outcrops
of the Julian
Alps.
After a brief lunch in a local pizzeria we continued our drive
towards the Slovenian coast. I couldnīt keep my eyes open since
I was so tired, so I missed a good part of interesting landscape.
The Postojna mountain pass is always interesting and after that
we got close to the Adriatic coast. We drove by the Slovenian
towns of Koper, Strunjan and Izola and finally ended up in Piran.
Piran (formerly Pirano - in Italian) was a town that has changed
hands many times among many people. Most of its core was built
by the Venetians and on the hill above town there is a clock
tower whose style is very reminiscent of the Campanile in Venice.
Beside the harbour is a beautiful square with houses dating
back several centuries. We checked into the Hostel-Hotel Garni
Val, very similar to a youth hostel, where we could stay for
Euro 20/night. My sister-in-law and I stayed in a room with
4 beds (2 of them bunkbeds), and washrooms/showers were in the
hallway.
We went on a beautiful stroll through town, again nice cobble-stoned
streets, the weather was gorgeous, we had blue sky with about
20 degrees. Of course we climbed the belltower which gave us
a beautiful 360 degree view of town and the Adriatic coast to
the north, all the way past Trieste. I almost got a heart attack
when the bells of the clock tower started ringing right next
to my ears. They were unbelievably loud.
We had a nice dinner in the evening in a restaurant called "Delfin".
My brother of course had fish, one of the local specialities.
I ended up picking up a stomach virus and on Sunday and Monday
I was dealing with some very unpleasant symptoms. Sunday morning
we checked out and continued our journey towards Italy.
After about 30 minutes of driving and basically no border check
at the Slovenian-Italian border we ended up in Trieste, a city
of 270,000 people, and a major industrial and port city at the
north end of the Adriatic. Trieste used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian
empire and the architecture is very reminiscent of many Austrian
cities. We visited the main square with the City Hall, checked
out the "Canale Grande", an outlet of the sea that stretches
into the city.
Trieste's Piazza dell' Unita
On the harbourfront there was some sort of exhibition by the
Italian Navy, the Military and various police organizations.
3 war ships were parked in the harbour and apparently people
were able to go on tour inside the war ships. All sorts of military
and police vehicles were parked in the harbour area and sailors,
soldiers and policemen and women were available to answer questions,
pose for photos etc.
After our short stop in Trieste we continued our Northern
Italian tour and stopped in the town of Cividale, a medieval
town that was originally built by the Germanic tribe of the
Langobards. It also has an old town core with ancient churches,
narrow cobble-stoned roads and the most famous sight is the
"Tempietto", the little temple that was built many hundreds
of years ago by the Langobards.
Cividale and the "Devil's Bridge" - a beautiful ancient town
in the foothills of the Italian Alps.
After lunch (where I couldn't eat any of the Italian delicacies
due to my stomach problems) we continued our way home through
the Italian Val Canale, past Udine, Tolmezzo towards the Austrian
border. It had been raining for several days and it was still
pouring and all the mountain streams were very close to overflowing.
Waterfalls overflowing with water were shooting down from all
the mountains and the major river, the Tagliamento, looked like
it was going to flood the area in the very near future.
About 3.5 hours later we finally arrived back home in Weiz,
after driving through the pouring rain. Sunday night and yesterday
I had to take it easy since my stomach was still bothering me
a great deal. Today I finally took off, picked up my rental
car at the airport in Graz and I have spent the last 2 or 3
hours rediscovering my university town. I checked out the castle
hill (Schlossberg) in the middle of town, walked up to the Uhrturm
(clock tower), the symbol of Graz, and looked at all the medieval
remains of the old fortress castle on top of the hill. I also
walked through the townīs centre, across the Hauptplatz (the
main square with its market, which also houses City Hall) and
finally, after some extended searching, ended up in this Internet
cafe.
So the last few days have been quite exciting, Austria, Slovenia,
Italy. The beauty of Europe are the small distances between
all the various places. A perfect place for a sightseeing aficionado.
Here are a few useful books about Austria, Styria and Graz
Related articles:
Read about my
travel preparations for this trip to Austria
Here you will find useful travel information about Slovenia.
Read about the almost surreal experience
of my 20th highschool reunion
My reflections as a new
writer kept me up in the middle of the night
The Homecoming - what did it really
feel like to go back home after many years...
For practical information visit my
country travel guide on Austria
