Graz has a hill in the middle of it, which tells you something about the town. The Schlossberg rises steeply out of the old centre, topped by a clock tower whose big hour hand and small minute hand were swapped, by tradition, so that the time could be read from far away. The fortress that once crowned the hill was dismantled by Napoleon's armies, but the tower was bought back by the citizens, and that act of stubbornness is part of the town's character.
The old town is a UNESCO site, and the reason is that it reads like a layered history of central European building styles, from Gothic to Renaissance to Baroque to modern, all of it in a compact space. The Landeszeughaus, the provincial armoury, is the largest historical arsenal in the world, with thousands of suits of armour and weapons kept in the rows where they were stored for defence against the Ottoman Empire. Nearby there is a blob-shaped modern art museum, locally nicknamed the friendly alien, and an island in the river Mur that floats as a steel and glass platform with a café. Graz is a university city, and in term time the cafés fill with students.
Eating is a pleasure in Styria. The region is known for pumpkin seed oil, dark green and nutty, which is poured over salads, soups and even vanilla ice cream, and for the wines of the south, which are crisp whites grown on steep slopes. You will find a decent meal anywhere. In the evening the squares fill with outdoor tables and the sound of conversation.
The riding is the real bonus. South of town, the Styrian wine roads wind through hills of vines and orchards on narrow, twisting asphalt, and to the north the foothills of the Alps offer plenty of curves around Schöckl and the Mur valley. Inside Graz, trams and cyclists share the streets, and the old centre is partly pedestrian, so park outside and walk. Fuel is available everywhere in the city, which has well over two hundred thousand people. The best months are May and early autumn, when the days are warm and the air is clear. Summers can be hot, and winters are grey and foggy in the basin.