Many people know Arnold Schwarzenegger is from Austria, but they may not know he was born in Graz and grew up in Thal, on the outskirts of the city. Today, Thal still preserves the house where he spent his childhood, which has now been converted into the Schwarzenegger Museum. But to get to know Graz, you have to start with the Clock Tower on the Schlossberg.
How a city views its past is sometimes not about how much it possesses, but what it has chosen to preserve. And to understand Graz, you must start with a broader name: Styria (German: Steiermark).
💚 PART 01. Styria: The "window to Austria" opening to the south
When you first arrive in Graz, it is easy to see it as just another ancient Austrian city. But this city must be understood through Styria. Its history itself hides the character of this land today.
Today, Styria is one of Austria's nine federal states, located in the southeast of the country, and is also the second-largest state in Austria by area. About 1.27 million people live on this 16,400-square-kilometer land, with over 60% of the area covered by forests. Graz is located in central Styria and is the state capital, as well as the largest city in the entire region.
🤴 PART 02. Archduke Johann: The story of a "commoner prince" in Styria
If you want to find a figure in Graz who best represents the spirit of Styria, it is Archduke Johann of Habsburg (Erzherzog Johann).
In 1819, 37-year-old Johann met Anna Plochl, the 15-year-old daughter of the local postmaster, in Aussee. Regarding their first meeting, a legendary version circulates locally: because a carriage driver could not be found at the last minute, Anna dressed in men's clothing to drive for the Archduke, but he saw through her disguise at a glance. What is certain is that for the next ten years, Johann tried to persuade his imperial brother to allow him to marry this commoner, until 1829, when the two finally married in secret.
More enduring than this love story is the career Johann built in Styria throughout his life. In 1811, he founded the scientific and educational institution Joanneum in Graz, donating his natural science collection and a large number of books to Styria, and promoting natural science and technical education; this later became an important foundation for today's Graz University of Technology. Subsequently, he established agricultural associations and model farms in Styria, introducing new farm tools, seeds, and planting methods; promoted the founding of a mining and metallurgy school, which later developed into today's Montanuniversität Leoben; and he also helped promote the Southern Railway through Styria, connecting Vienna with the Adriatic Sea. To this day, the Archduke Johann Fountain still stands in the center of Graz's main square, and locals affectionately call him the "Prince of Styria."
🍷 PART 03. From glacier to wine: The tipsy road to the south
The most charming aspect of Styria lies in its diverse landscapes. From the glaciers and alpine pastures of the northern Alps all the way south, the terrain gradually lowers, transitioning from forests to orchards and farmland. South of Graz, the landscape finally opens up, forming rolling vineyards. The local promotional slogan "From Glacier to Wine" perfectly summarizes the region's character. The area has even designed a long-distance hiking route favored by outdoor enthusiasts, starting from the Dachstein Glacier and extending all the way to the southern wine country.
The South Styrian Wine Road (Südsteirische Weinstraße) winds through the hills near the Slovenian border. The road spirals along the hillsides, with rows of grapevines covering the valleys and slopes, interspersed with wineries, farmhouses, orchards, and forests. The wine culture here is also combined with rural life; the vineyards themselves are places of production, living, and hospitality. The northern mountains nurture pastures and forests, while the southern hills shape vineyards and orchards, and the different lands ultimately return to daily life through food and wine.
The most representative feature along the way is the local farm tavern (Buschenschank). It is not a "bar" or "restaurant," but a rural tavern run by winegrowers. "Buschen" originally referred to a bunch of green branches hung outside the door; in the past, winegrowers would hang it out to mean that they were open for business and that people could come in for a glass of their homemade wine.
🍲 PART 04. A feast on a board: The wild and the seasons you can taste
The Styrian diet is not known for complex cooking, but rather emphasizes ingredients and the peak season. From the cheeses, meats, and cold-water fish of the northern mountains to the apples and horseradish of the east, and the wine and pumpkins of the south, the produce from different regions of Styria all eventually converge on one table.
Walking into a farm tavern, the most typical offering is a Brettljause—a wooden board piled high with cold cuts. Smoked meat, ham, bacon, sausage, cheese, boiled eggs, spreads, horseradish, and farmhouse bread are laid out in order, accompanied by a plate of bean salad drizzled with pumpkin seed oil and a glass of homemade wine. Styrian pumpkin seed oil and the locally unique scarlet runner bean (Käferbohne) are the most recognizable pair on the local table. This simple cold meal from winegrowers and farmhouses has now become one of the most direct ways to experience rural life in Styria.
✡️ PART 05. Styria's other calling card: The starry sky and tech valley
Beyond vineyards, pumpkin fields, and farmhouse tables, Styria has another, less pastoral calling card: science, engineering, and manufacturing. In 2023, Styria's R&D investment accounted for 5.31% of its regional GDP, ranking first among all Austrian states.
This calling card can even be traced back over four hundred years. In 1594, 23-year-old Johannes Kepler came to Graz to teach mathematics and astronomy at a local Protestant school. His courses were not popular; the first year had very few students, and later, at one point, no one attended his lectures. But on a class day on July 19, 1595, while Kepler was explaining the conjunction cycle of Jupiter and Saturn to his students, the geometric figures on the blackboard suddenly gave him an idea: could the distances between planetary orbits correspond to the relationship of several nested Platonic solids?
This model, which seems incorrect today, became the core of Kepler's first important work, *Mysterium Cosmographicum*, and brought this obscure young teacher into the view of the European astronomical community for the first time. A few years later, he left Graz for Prague and eventually discovered the famous laws of planetary motion. But the first truly important breakthrough on his scientific path occurred in a classroom in Graz where almost no one came to listen.
Centuries later, science and technology remain an important backdrop of this city. University laboratories and engineering companies in Graz are researching autonomous driving, battery systems, and software-defined vehicles—technologies that determine how the next generation of cars will drive, think, and be manufactured. Automotive engineering, mechanical manufacturing, green technology, and new materials constitute another side of this place, completely different from the wine country. This green technology industrial cluster, with Graz and Styria at its core, has a vivid name—Green Tech Valley. Searching for answers to life from the land, and searching for answers to the future from the laboratory, both belong to the same Styria.
ℹ️ PART 06. Travel tips
🚦 Transportation guide
Train: Take the Railjet from Vienna Central Station (Wien Hbf) to Graz, which takes about 2.5 hours. Along the way, you will pass the famous Semmering Railway, the world's first railway to be listed as a World Heritage site, with excellent scenery.
Flight: Graz Airport (GRZ) is about 10 km from the city center. You can arrive via connecting flights from Frankfurt, Munich, or Vienna. The airport has trains and buses that go directly to the city.
🎁 Styrian souvenirs
Pumpkin seed oil (Kürbiskernöl): Known as "Styria's green gold," it is dark green, almost black, with a rich nutty aroma. It is one of the most representative local ingredients, especially suitable for salads.
Apple cider vinegar (Apfelessig): Styria is Austria's most important apple-growing region, especially famous for the "Styrian Apple Road" in the east. Local farms often use local apples to brew apple cider vinegar, which has a distinct fruity aroma and is a very local condiment.
Scarlet runner bean (Käferbohne): A Styrian specialty with a dense texture, usually eaten with pumpkin seed oil.
Text provided by iDOU, author Janet.
Graz, Styria
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