An Afternoon in the Botanical Garden

Don't you just love parks and botanical gardens with all the flowers and greenness around you? For me their calm atmosphere in the middle of the city is always something special. Thus, I could't help but spending one sunny afternoon in the Botanical garden (Botanischer Garten) of Graz. And I can tell you, it was totally worth visiting!

I was told that the garden is a bit further away and that I should probably take a tram to go there. However, I decided to walk and arrived to the gates in less than half an hour. That is to say, totally doable walking distance.

The Botanical garden consists of an outside area and a big glasshouse divided into four sections; The tropical or warm house, the cold house, the temperate house and the succulent house. The walking-ways in and between these houses were nicely organized with wooden paths and bridges in the middle of the vegetation. In fact, moving around was so smooth, I hardly even noticed passing the same crossings several times.

My favourite of the greenhouses was the tropical one (as usual) with all it's colorful flowers and wonderful shapes of plants. The big bud of the waterlily just made me wish I could revisit this glasshouse in a week or two when it will be open.

The temperate house had wonderful flowers as well! Unfortunately some of them were slightly far away from the paths and thus didn't look so pretty in the pictures. In the real life they were truly beautiful though. Well, I caught something in the picture anyhow.

The gardens outside were well made too; several different landscapes and plants from different parts of the world. The small waterlily pond with benches around it was especially lovely place to rest for a while and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.

Slightly hidden, across the small road passing on the right side of the Botanical garden, there was a hidden treasure; a nicely made kitchen garden as well as small paths going through carefully planted flowers and herbs. And furthest back I found these beauties...

Kornati - Croatian tastes in Graz

After passing the lovely light blue house of the Croatian restaurant Kornati several times this week, and every time pointing out how wonderful place for dinner it probably would be, we finally decided to actually step in and try.

As this was rather an impulse decision and we did not have a reservation, all the tables on the terrace were unfortunately already taken. However, the friendly waitress found us a nice table next to the open windows on the second floor. In fact, it felt almost like we were sitting outside. (And in addition, there was no cigarette smoke!)

The upstairs was wonderfully decorated with different kind of lamps, tables and chairs. Together with the lightened candles and flowers on the tables, they created cozy and peaceful atmosphere. We were lucky to have the whole upstairs for ourselves, which of course made the evening a bit more special.

Most of the dishes on the menu sounded very delicious, and we really had hard time trying to decide what to try. Finally both of us chose seafood, as by far Croatian seafood has never let us down. And this time wasn't an exception either; the seafood stew was absolutely worth tasting and the tuna steak definitely the best one I've ever had! The truffle-potato puree served with the tuna had slightly too much truffle for my taste though. But at least now we for sure know how truffles taste.

As it should, delicious food was accompanied with good drinks. I got to taste the Weißer Muskateller wine for the first time, and I would certainly order it another time too.

Maria am Freienstein

Sometimes it's good to know somebody who knows somebody...

I wasn't sure what to think when I saw the small and steep dirt road rising in front of the car. We had just passed the small town of St. Peter Freienstein and now it seemed like we were driving up he hill directly to the woods. A few dozen meters later if became clear that our small car wouldn't make it to the top with five people in it. So we jumped out and started walking up.

I knew we were going to see a church on the top, a church that was seldom open for people to stop by and have a look. But that was more or less all I had been told, and I have to admit I didn't expect too much from an old village church. My mistake. When the white wooden gate opened and I saw the cobblestone gateway with scarlet geraniums together with the view to the town underneath ... it just took my breath away.

Even though the entrance already gave a hint of unexpected things to be found,  I was surprised to find a cozy, light and newly renovated church inside the old and heavy stone walls. The renovation had been done with very good taste, leaving the walls beautifully white and adding some decorative wall-paintings and golden ornamentation. And the sunbeams peeking from the high windows gave everything the final touch.

Besides the church, the walls of Maria am Freienstein hid inside a cozy courtyard with stone steps leading down to a small chapel right on the edge of the hill. Looking down from the wall that surrounded the courtyard, I could totally understand why there used to be a castle on this spot before the church was built. These steep stone walls with little place for resting have definitely provided a great protection.