avant-garde sighting in graz

Avant-Garde Sightings in Graz

September 28, 2012

If you haven’t heard of Graz before, you are not alone. Before planning my nearly two week trip to Austria, I went back an forth with my representative from Austria Tourism to build an itinerary that matched what I wanted to cover on Bohemian Trails. Our last minute addition of Graz proved to be the perfect representation of Austrian local life.

Graz is actually Austria‘s second largest city but it feels much smaller. After feeling like I was in a race to see every artistic attraction in both Vienna and Salzburg, Graz is all about leisurely wandering through their ancient city streets. Here in Graz, getting lost is the preferred method of immersing oneself into the culture.

The Styrian city also has quite a few reasons to toot its horn. On a basic level, Graz is primarily a student city, with six universities totaling nearly 50,000 students. Its “Old Town” serves as one of the most popular reasons to visit Graz and is said to be one of the most well-preserved city centers in all of Central Europe, thus leading to its 1999 addition to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites. Crowned the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2003, Graz was later nominated as a World Design Capital contender (2011) and is considered to be a prime destination for culinary delights.

Ok, so all things aside, Graz is a truly avant-garde city and I have six photos to prove it.

Modern solar panel walls meet traditional preserved roofing

Anything with Amalie’s face on it is instantly cool in my book

Their one and only Graffiti Tram immediately caught my eye

This “Chained Beast” is part of an art project and can literally be moved and chained elsewhere

Even the cathedral chandeliers offer a unique perspective from any angle

Graz didn’t have an island, so they created one

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Hi! I’m Megan,

a Scorpio sun and Libra moon who left her job in the music industry to travel and write full-time. Since then, i´ve explored more than 60 countries in the hopes that you will, too.

The world is made of magic and so are you!

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