Just thought I’d post todays view from the castle hill webcam to show you today’s weather and view. It cooled down a bit, and a cold wind is blowing, because the mountains got a little bit of snow again. It snowed down to 800m (2624 ft) and our city lies in a valley, at a height ranging from 350m (1148 ft) to 380m (1247 ft).
It’s overcast with a little bit of sun here and there. Right now it’s 10°C (50°F), but it feels much cooler due to the chilly wind. We might still get some rain later.
Here’s the view from 10am:
Since the webcam can’t look behind itself, due to the castle hill rising up higher behind it, here are some photos I took from up there in April of 2013. The mountains you can see in the back are just the lower ones, but they have snow on them, just like they do now. The mountains are all part of the alps, which rise up higher and higher behind the mountains that are visible. But the mountains are not visible from that position, because there’s another valley in between the snowy ones and the next ones.
There’s still more city to the right, but I don’t have pictures of it yet.
The map above shows my state of Styria. The purple arrow to the bottom right just shows where north is exactly. The other smaller arrow points into the direction of the snowy mountains you see in the photos above the map. If you click on the map, it will be larger. Like I said, there’s another smaller valley behind the snowy mountains. After that small valley, there are the higher mountains. As it shows, the mountains just get higher and higher. All of the mountainous region you can see are the alps. All of it. It’s VAST. And beautiful ☺️ The highest mountain in my state is at 2995m (9826ft) and it’s called the “Dachstein” which literally translated means “Roofstone”.
Here’s an english Wikipedia article about the “Dachstein” (LINK) and a list of the highest mountains in Austria (LINK).
Just thought I’d post about it, because I was talking about mountains with some furends 😺
Murli wants her pic in the post too, just because she’s cute 😂😸
I noticed some furends being interested in those old buildings and other historical facts of my city, Graz. So I thought I’d post some pictures about the history of the buildings you often see in my photos.
What is known for sure is that the area of Graz was settled from about 3000 before common Era, which was in the Copper age. It had probably people living here for much longer than that though. Of course back then it wasn’t called Graz. Graz started being a city in the early middle ages, and from then on it grew. In 1379 it became the capital of inner Austria, during the long reign of the Habsgurgers. In 1619 a new Habsburg emperor decided to move the court to Vienna, which became the capital city from that point on. If anyone is interested, there is a timeline on wikipedia about Graz.
The castle hill (Schlossberg) was part of a massive fortification of the city. On the hill itself was a huge fortress, which goes back to the 10th century and grew from then on. The castle was never conquered, but unfortunately, after the Napoleonic wars, the fortress was largely demolished, as part of the Treaty of Schönbrunn of 1809. The parts that are still visible today where simply to massive and strong to be demolished back then. They would have removed every single thing up there if they would have been able to. The clock tower and the bell tower were only spared because the city paid a ransom basically.
Thanks to this, those two towers still stand and still have their original old bells in them. Most other bells in church steeples for example, were taken down and destroyed under the treaty (the Napoleonic forces had them molten and made into new cannons, since it was the same kind of metal needed for cannons).
The fortified city (For the larger version click HERE)
The fortified city around 1645. The view is to the West. (Source: Institut für Städtebau TU Graz http://bit.ly/2lOAWMA)The fortress on castle hill. Looking towards the North. Source: Festung Kupferstich Matthäus Von Matthäus Merian der Ältere
The closest view that I could find, looking towards the castle hill today, HERE.
The castle hill with fortress, looking towards the North. (Source: Österreichischer Städteatlas at mapire.eu)
And the same buildings that the arrows are pointing to, today:
The castle hill clock tower (Source: Von Andreas E. Neuhold)
The clock tower has 3 bells. One rings at every full hour, and is the oldest bell in the city. It’s from 1382 and I recorded it’s sound this Friday:
Then there is the bell from 1645, which was rung in old times to warn people, every time a fire broke out in the city. It rung the number of the district the fire was in. For example for my district, which is the forth, it would have rung 4 times. It was rung not just once, but with a break in between those 4 times.
The 3rd clock, from 1450, rung every time a person was executed… In the 19th century, it rung when the gates of the city walls were closed and locked.
The Liesl bell tower. (Source: Von Marion Schneider and Christoph Aistleitner)The huge bell in the Liesl bell tower. (Source: Von Uoaei1)Thats how huge the bell inside the Liesl bell tower is. Source: meinbezirk.at
The Liesl bell rings 101 times at 7am, 12pm und 19pm. The bell tower was build 1588.
Then there is the old steeple, at the church near my home. It’s visible on that old map, and it’s this one that one of the arrows points at. It’s the old steeple of the church called Mariahilfer Kirche. The two high steeples came much later and weren’t visible yet on that old map.
There are many beautiful old buildings throughout the old city center, like the city hall, which looks like a castle really.
City Hall building (Source: Von Taxiarchos228)City hall seen from castle hill, with zoom though. (Source: Von Marion Schneider and Christoph Aistleitner)Another beautiful old building downtownOne of the many beautiful old houses seen downtownTypical narrow alley from medieval times
On special holidays, like christmas, every church in the city will ring their bells for mass. I recorded a bit of it on Christmas morning in 2016:
I think I’ve made this post long enough lol.
Here are the sources to the images that are not mine:
The fortified city around 1645. The view is to the West. Source: Institut für Städtebau TU Graz, Link 1, Link 2
The fortress on castle hill. Looking towards the North. Source: Festung Kupferstich Matthäus Von Matthäus Merian der Ältere – File:Topographia Austriacarum (Merian) 200.jpg, Gemeinfrei, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46412714
The castle hill with fortress, looking towards the North. (Arrows and text added by me, the original image can be found through the following Source) Source: Österreichischer Städteatlas http://mapire.eu/oesterreichischer-staedteatlas/graz/#OV_17_2
Another chilly morning, after a clear and cold night. It was shortly before 8am when I took these Ice Flower photos from the kitchen window. It was -13°C / 8.6°F at that time. Murli always sleeps under my blanket all night when it’s that cold lol. The heat is on at all times, but I understand she likes it snuggly warm during her sleep.
From the webcam on castlehill, the view over the city shortly before and during sunrise was really beautiful again.
The first picture is the view to the East at 7:30am. If East would be the 15 minute point on a clock, the sun comes up at the 20 minute point. The second picture is the view to the West.
These two pictures were from 8:30am.
Murli and I are both feeling really well! The migraine free phase is still going due to the continuous cold weather. According to the forecsat, the temperatures might go down to -18°C / -0.5°F over night❄❄❄ Depends if it stays clear, or if there will be fog towards the morning. With fog it doesn’t cool out that much.
Murli has continued having her boxpawties all week lol. This one is from yesterday, Caturday. We now have another version, which is the sidebox… She loves running through the “tunnel” that’s created in that way, and she’s had a nap in there this morning as well.
So I’ll leave you with that short update, and hope everyone is doing well. Purrs & Pawhugs furends!🐾 Have a lovely Sunday!
This mornings view from the Schlossberg (Castlehill) webcam at 8:30am❄️❄️❄️ It’s foggy + low clouds, so you can’t even see very far. It started snowing again this morning😸
