WitW: Graz, Austria

Graz! Hallowed birthplace of Governator extraordinaire, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Europe's Cultural Capital of 2003. (I like my Capitals of Culture, don't I?) It's actually Austria's second largest city, but that's still less than 300,000 people, so I'll beg an indulgence from you all.

Now, I think Graz is truly very nice, but I have a serious bone to pick with town planning.

This is not okay. I mean, I like experimental architecture as much as the next, but this is what we keep Iceland for. That said, this so-called Friendly Alien (nicknamed by its creators, hm!) is a very excellent temporary art gallery, or Kunsthaus. Graz is actually a permanent UNESCO City of Design, which translates into an inordinate amount of chamber music and art installations. The place has more than twenty different museums and galleries, including -- but not limited to -- museums of contemporary photography, trams and locks. (The largest collection of locks and keys in the world!) Graz, in essence, likes its culture.

You saw it here first!

As if being a City of Art Things wasn't enough, Graz is also Austria's self-appointed (...) Capital of Culinary Delights. They have a Gormet Spectacular (and what I wouldn't give to hear that phrase in German) and spend a whole evening every so often eating all together at a really long table.

Did I mention that Graz is also home to Austria's largest cave system?



This little city is a busy place.

All credit to my sources: Graz, Wikipedia, Graz UNESCO City of Design, Graz Tourism, Culture Graz, Hanns Schell Collection, Thomahan Culture

Where in the Wednesday is my weekly excuse to trawl through Google Images. It's a profile of a place I wish I was in and an attempt to draw my eye away from classic travel destinations; I hope that you'll enjoy reading about all these places as much as I love learning and writing about them. Anywhere you think I ought to write about, from the obscure little town in your area to that place you visited in 1989? I'm at anscenicworld@gmail.com.

 

WitW: Arrowtown, New Zealand

Welcome to Arrowtown; so charming it's frightening.

A long, long time ago, the Arrow Basin was carved out by glaciers and the Arrow River formed, "flowing like silver threads through the blackened scrub-clothed plains", on the banks of which Arrowtown sprung up in due fashion. It pattered along for a good few years until a shearer named Jack happened upon some gold and, well, you know how these things go.

These days, Arrowtown cashes in on its natural beauty, which you can sort of understand. I mean, this place has a week-long Autumn Festival just to celebrate how ridiculously pretty it is. They have a scarecrow competition and something called 'Bikes 4 Fun' and I am sure it's an absolute blast.



And they have a tiny little cinema. I mean, come on, Arrowtown. We know miniature is cute. You're killing us.

Of course, since 98% of New Zealand was used to film The Lord of the Rings trilogy (and subsequently the Hobbits, oh my goodness), Arrowtown's surroundings feature as the Fords of Bruinen, better known as the "if you want him, come and claim him" river.

It's probably more fun in summer.

 

All credit to my sources: Discover Arrowtown, Arrowtown Autumn Festival, eGlobal, Private Fleet, Dorothy Brown's, NZ Girl, Travel Blog

Where in the Wednesday is my weekly excuse to trawl through Google Images. It's a profile of the place I wish I was in and an attempt to draw my eye away from classic travel destinations. I write in the hope that you'll enjoy reading about all these places as much as I love learning and writing about them. Anywhere you think I ought to write about, from the obscure little town in your state to that place you visited in 1989? I'm at anscenicworld@gmail.com

 




 

WitW: Turku, Finland

Introducing Finland's one-time capital, Turku. In 2011, along with Tallinn, it was the European Capital of Culture and, in 1996, (sit down if you aren't already) became Finland's official Christmas city. (Actually, that's kind of a big deal since northern Finland is basically Father Christmas' stomping ground.)

Turku doesn't have an enormous population: 170,000 people, give or take. However, thanks to its location (down at the bottom of Finland... the warm part, I guess) about a million folks pass through it to take a ferry.

In a word, Turku is adorable. It has adorable architecture, adorable boat bars (boats moored in a general vicinity that are bars; I knew you'd get it) and an adorably dorky medieval festival.

They even had a visit to their adorable music festival by Apocalyptica, who I would call adorable as well if I weren't a little bit afraid of them.



Less adorable is the public toilet re-imagined as bar. But Turku makes up for that with the bank that's been turned into a bar and is, by all accounts, quite grand. If you're looking for something in the middle, the old Swedish school -- which, needless to say, is also a bar these days -- might suit you.

Contrary to the portrait I've painted, Turku is not a fog-swamped harbour town consisting wholly of pubs. (Athough there is an ex-kindergarten bar. I'm done.) Turku Castle hosts a collection of appropriately old artefacts from Turku's glory days as capital. You know: lots of lovely rugs and goblets and things.

See what I mean? But, more than anything else, Turku seems to be a place to wander in. Let's be honest with ourselves: you don't visit this place for its (seemingly endless) stream of maritime museums. You visit to walk around and say, "UGH! So beautiful! Too beautiful! Too charming!"

Because, quite simply, it is.

All credit to my sources: TripAdvisor, Virtual Tourist, Wikipedia, Medieval Market, Turku Castle, the Guardian, FanPop, Will Go To, Get In Travel.

Where in the Wednesday is my weekly excuse to trawl through Google Images. It's a profile of the place I wish I was in and an attempt to draw my eye away from classic travel destinations. I write in the hope that you'll enjoy reading about all these places as much as I love learning and writing about them. Anywhere you think I ought to write about, from the obscure little town in your state to that place you visited in 1989? I'm at anscenicworld@gmail.com.