Caves of Lurgrotte and the flowery Fernitz-Mellach village

Hello peeps, another post with a double adventure. I thought these places did not need a separate post so I might as well bunch them together. When we came from Italy Anne and I formed a list of all the things we wanted to do and see while we’re still in Graz. These were pretty much small excursions and trips around Graz and we probably won’t have any overnight trips anymore. These two were smaller things that we picked out of our “things to do near Graz” guide. We did these trips a few weeks ago when the weather was very cloudy and rainy. So, whenever it looked like we had at least a half of a pretty day, we jumped on the trips from our list.

First on our tour is the caves of Lurgrotte. These are some natural caves in a small town of Peggau just north of Graz. The Lurgrotte caves were natural caves that have formed over the millennia. These caves are special as they are the largest set of caves in Austria that water flows through. Even that said the caves were a little bit of a let down. I have never been a big cave person I have trouble in tight spaces and these caves were really narrow at points and the air is extremely humid. It is impressive to see the work of nature, but as you see in the pictures dripstones were not especially special. Part of this is that in the 90s there was a huge flood that cut off the two entrances to the caves and the other end which has the larger dripstones is harder to get to and it requires a larger group of visitors. The cave did have some interesting features like we got to see some mini crabs that live in the flowing waters of the cave and they have fossils of a cave bear to show. The guides were friendly, and they had a guide sheet in Finnish - it was fun to read as it was translated clearly using google translate or something. 

You could see the cave signs a long way away

Entrance to the cave

Finnish info about the caves

These were the regular inhabitants of the cave, luckily in the summer they come out and we only saw one

Cave bear skeleton

Small streams were going all around the place

Some times the caves were pretty high

The smaller dripstones looked like needles which was cool

There's the lonesome bat we saw

Small pond where in rained from the ceiling

Tight tunnels where a guy like me has to look after his head

Probably the most impressive cave with dripstones that they called three peaks

By size the largest stone was called the prince

The second day trip was to a small town of Fernitz-Mellach. The town had been chosen the “prettiest flower village in Styria” or some similar award. Anne noticed online that there was also a small animal zoo. This made for a perfect half day combo for us. The small zoo was fun and open with some animals like chickens and peacocks running all around. Some of the chickens and roosters looked a little sick, but most of the rarer animals seemed to be in good spirits and healthy. Many of them seemed to be bearing babies and some animals already had some baby animals, which is a good sign as I understand not all animals like breeding in captivity. We got to see an albino peacock which was interesting, and Anne was so happy when she got to pet some ponies. From the zoo we walked to the centre of the town to see the flowers. The main garden is basically the main square next to a beautiful old church. The area isn’t large and we walked through it in 20 minutes, but it was a great place to stop for ice cream. There happened to be a wedding party in the gardens, so we just chilled on the park benches and followed their festivities.

First animals we saw were horses grazing around the premises

Hello pretty

This pony decided it was time for a good scratch

Little bunnies were all around

Here's the albino peacock

Took a moment for him to show off the feathers

Bunny resting in a funny position

One of the Emu babies had snuk outside, but couldn't figure how to get back in

Llama

They even had a kangaroo

Monkey looked bored and his cage was a bit depressing

I think they saw me as a threat

Walking to town we saw this beautiful yard

The accolades of the town

Flowers

There was a stick nailed to a cross

You could walk under flowers

Luckily we got a moment of sun for our ice creams

At the center of the garden there was an interesting fountain set up

Both of these smaller excursions were nice, but not really too damn special. They were more of budget trips as money is tight every now and then when traveling, even thou Erasmus students get more than double the normal student grant when traveling. Still enjoyable days, but I probably would recommend some of the other trips and places we’ve been to.