Spending our time in and around Graz

Havingspent the first night of our #Eurotrip2018 in Czech Republic, we were ready to continue our road trip and head over to our next stop. The plan was to spend the night in Graz, Austria. 

Before #Eurotrip2016, we bought a book on campsites in Europe. It’s a German thing, giving details on various campsites in most European countries. Of course, Germany is most represented in the book, but each (or almost every) European country has a section dedicated to its own campsites. 

Anyway, we found a campsite in Graz. Happy, we directed our steps in its direction. When we finally got there, it turned out that, true, there is a campsite, but it is tiny and serves only motorhomes. And, to make things worse, that was the only campsite marked in the book in the area. No worries, no worries. We took our navigation that has already saved our butts in Northern Spain, and found yet another campsite, close to the highway, a little off Graz. 

We got to the spot where there was supposed to be that navigation mentioned campsite… What we saw were some gates, a huge car park right behind them and a huge building that looked like a swimming pool. Were we in the right place? Where are the tents? Or at least motorhomes?  We parked the car somewhere on the side and K. went to the people sitting at the gates to ask for the campsite. Luckily, we were at the right place. And yes, they have a free spot for a tent. Score! What we had to do was to only follow a car that would take us to our spot. We drove through recreation areas by a lake all the way up to the campsite. It took a few minutes. The pitch was small, but on grass. In the open sun (at it was around 30 Celsius), but a 5 minute walk from that lake. The lake was artificial, if I remember correctly, but it was well organised. With a few playgrounds and places for kids to play. With water equipment renting places, bars and restaurants. And it wasn’t too expensive either. 

We spent the early afternoon by the lake. The kids with K. were swimming and playing in the lake. Once they were tired, we decided to get changed and head over to Graz. We were still planning to see the town. 

We got there around 4 p.m., so it was still quite early. Finding a free parking spot wasn’t too difficult, as there are quite a few underground car parks. We took a walk to the old town square. The houses were beautifully ornamented, packed one next to another in the tiny streets and secret passages. We had delicious ice cream and decided to walk up the hill to the clock tower, which was lurking at us strolling through the narrow streets. 

The way up iis… interesting. At least from the side where we got. You can easily get all the way to the top with a stroller (checked, the kid survived) and the path goes through a park. At the bottom of the hill there is a passage leading to the other side of the hill through a tunnel. There used to be shelters in case of bombing in that tunnel. 

We got up to the hill, up to that clock tower and were actually surprised how tiny it was. I mean, you usually see a tower mounting proudly over the surrounding area. And this one… is also mounting proudly over the area but by being on the verge of the hill top. Up there, it looks as if somebody stepped on it and pushed it inside the hill. It still is beautiful, though. And the view over Graz is amazing. There are benches next to the clock tower where you can sit, rest a little and simply stare at it. Or the people around you. Or read a book. Or do anything else for that matter :)

 We went back down and through the tunnel to the other side of the hill. Walked down the narrow streets until we got to a small playground, where the kids finally got a chance to play. After a little while, we got back to the car and then to the campsite. It was already getting dark. Finally, the following the, we were ready to cross the Slovenian border.