Day 51 - A Sunday in Graz

I wasn’t feeling ‘quite A1’ (in the words of my late great-aunt Edna) on account of being feasted on by mosquitoes in the night, and being a bit wheezy and head-achey. I also still have not managed to master buying the correct milk for my Cheerios.

I was significantly cheerier after a phone catch-up with the legendary Clare T - with a special guest appearance by Elizabeth - and a shower and meds, so then set out across the river to the Schlossberg. The Schlossberg is essentially a small mountain overlooking the city on which there used to be a fort, which is, incidentally, in the Guinness Book of World Records as the strongest fortification of all time. Don’t ask me how they worked that out.

As I was not feeling 100%, I decided to take the funicular railway up the mountain (Yes, I might have taken it anyway, but you can’t prove it!). For reasons I don’t know, there was a Red Bull car hanging off the mountain.

Anyway, I reached the top and had a good walk around, enjoying the views, finding some caches, and then visiting the Schlossberg Museum. The final attraction on the Schlossberg was the famous clock tower, which was pretty cool.

I took the lift down the mountain (literally an elevator in the rock); it seemed a less claustrophobic way down than the slide option….. and then found a lovely little restaurant for some dunch. I sat at a table next to a local woman called Bea (don’t quote me on the spelling!) and ended up chatting with her throughout the meal. It was lovely ☺️.

I then had a walk around the historic centre. I went to the cathedral (although could not go inside as there was a service going on), the impressive mausoleum of Kaiser Ferdinand II, the priests’ seminary and a slightly confusing double spiral staircase! I was hoping to also catch the Glockenspiel at the right time to see the wooden figures dancing, but alas it was not to be!

I then set about walking back to my apartment, and was lucky enough to walk by some seriously impressive buskers. There seemed to be buskers on most street corners, nearly all with crowds. I stopped a while to listen to a violin trio playing Les Mis and the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean.

I have now settled back into my apartment for the evening, planning on repacking my bags ready for the morning and the trip into Slovenia.