#39 St. Nicholas in Graz

Foodie Tour, Kinderrundgang, old town, shopping

Krampus and St. Nicholas will be here very soon. At the end of the year, around Christmas, there are many of these old traditions to drive away evil spirits. There are the eerie masks of the “Perchten” or luminous figures like “Glöckner”. Faith and superstition become blurred and ancient rituals, born out of the fear of the darkness of the Rauhnächte, persist to this day. Every year, figures and traditions symbolise the contrast between light and dark, good and evil, truth and lies.

While the horrible creature Krampus punishes the bad children (and takes them away) according to old custom, the good Saint Nicholas gives presents to the good children. We’re happy to lend you a hand and tell you where to buy the best regional gifts. Because of course we’ve all been good and deserve only the best from Graz.

St. Nicholas presents:

Nuts from Genuss Nuts are a must in the Nicholas bag! A huge selection of nuts, dried fruit, sweets and really unusual delicacies from all over the world can be found in Sporgasse at ``Genuss``. This is a family business with another branch on Lendplatz, which specialises in spices! www.ge-nuss.at

Santa socks Handmade Santa socks (each one is unique and lovingly sewn from old fabrics in Graz) are available in ``Offline Retail``. By the way, the socks can also be ordered online and filled anew every year! www.projekt-offline.at

Nutcracker Have you already discovered the mini shop in Schmiedgasse? It sells nutcrackers in all variations: Classic, freaky, original. And nutcrackers simply belong to nuts, St. Nicholas festivities and Christmas! www.grazvintage.at

Krampus whip Of course, there must be a bit of Krampus in every Nicholas's socks, because none of us was 100 per cent good. You can buy a wooden Krampus whip at the farmers' markets. You can choose the size depending on what you want to say with it!

Krampus bread A freshly made sweet bread (Striezel) in shape of Krampus or Nicholas is the perfect breakfast this time of year. You can get them in almost every bakery in Graz. Add a little butter and a coffee, and that's all you need...

chocolate If you buy St. Nicholas chocolate in the supermarket or even consider to order it online, you are really hopeless! The whole city centre is full of the best chocolates and sweets. And most chocolatiers are also open during the lockdown: At ``Xocolat`` you'll find their own products as well as the absolute classics from other companies, like ``Katzenzungen`` and ``Zaunerstollen``, all packed in the most beautiful boxes. The finest pieces, without kitsch, just with a lot of style, can be found at ``Berger Feinste Confiserie``. The chocolates and Advent calendars at ``Confiserie Eckhards`` are a little more colourful and modern. The absolute classics in Graz are probably the small chocolates with Krampus and Nicholas motifs on it from ``Ferdinand Haller``. Unbeatable Belgian chocolate is available on Kaiser Josef Platz at ``Chocolaterie de Naeyer``. And if you want a lot of irony and unusual combinations, then you should take a look at ``Josef Zotter``. Chocolate or the finest gingerbread can be found at ``Linzbichler`` on Franziskanerplatz.