Les meilleurs hôtels à Graz

The second largest city in Austria, with a population of around 245,000, the Styrian capital of Graz lies in Eastern Austria, an area sometimes overlooked by tourists doing the Vienna-Salzburg circuit. Yet Graz is a city rich in history and dense in delights, renowned for its gloriously quaint Glockenspiel and its brilliantly Baroque Eggenberg Castle, as well as for its three universities. Graz was born of a fortress -- its name derives from the Slavic term for small castle, "gradec" -- built on the Schlossberg (Castle Hill) in the 9th or 10th century to defend the southern end of the Mur Valley (and thus, Vienna) from Turkish invasion. As the town evolved at the foot of the hill, it became home to the Habsburgs, making Graz an eminent imperial city until the court relocated to Vienna in the 17th century. Though Napoleon's troops dismantled most of the Schlossberg castle in 1809, two of its towers remain as a reminder of the city's embattled past. And Graz's defensive history is on stalwart display at the famous Landeszeughaus (Styrian State Armory), a magnificent collection of armor and weapons dating back to 1643. Royal glamour lingers at the Eggenberg Castle, on the city's edge, a high-Baroque castle built in the 17th century by the Imperial Prince Ulrich of Eggenberg. Deer roam the grounds in a vast game preserve, and two-legged visitors can tour the castle's ornate Apartments of State and its three museums, devoted to hunting, numismatics and early Styrian-Roman history. Another local landmark, the Herberstein Palace, houses the Neue Gallery of modern Styrian art. Graz is graced with more than a touch of Austrian folk culture, as well. The city is home to the Styrian Folklore Museum, in a former monastery in the Old Town area, which showcases regional costumes, interior decor and artifacts of Eastern Austrian culture. And, in true Austrian style, delighted visitors gather at the town's Glockenspielplatz to watch the giant clock chime the hours with enchanting animated displays of wooden figures moving in time to traditional folk tunes.