GRAZ SHOPPING

With all its array of small, individual shops, plus Kastner & Öhler, Austria’s biggest department store, Graz is a shopper’s delight. The dignified Herrengasse, lined with some splendid buildings, is the main shopping street; Stempfergasse has designer shops and upmarket boutiques. Look above the shop windows of steep Sporgassse, once the site of weapon makers and breweries, and admire the detail on façades that range from medieval to Art Nouveau. Sackstrasse is known as ‘the art mile’ for its art and antiques shops.

Tiny shops snuggle into the walls of the 13th-century Franciscan monastery, and tuck into numerous arcaded passageways and inner courtyards. Steirisches Heimatwerk is the place to buy traditional Styrian clothes and crafts. For foody treats, there’s the legendary chocolate praline Schlossbergkugel of Café Strehly and the Original Erzherzog-Johann cake. The excellent delicatessen, Frankowitsch on Stempfergasse, is famous for its Brötchen (rolls), made to a secret family recipe. The colourful daily farmers’ markets, piled high with locally grown produce, cheeses and meats, are the place to stock up on pumpkin seed oil, much used in Styrian dishes. It’s one of the ‘must-buys’ in Graz.