The Uhrturm terrace on the Schlossberg

The Schlossberg is a wooded rock straight out of the middle of Graz, and the Uhrturm is what survived on it: when Napoleon's troops razed the fortress in 1809 the citizens bought the clock tower and the bell tower back. The clock still runs with the hands the wrong way round to a modern eye — the long hand shows the hours, because from the town below that was the only figure anyone needed.

There are two frames here and they face opposite ways. The tower itself stands best from the terrace to its south-east, with the wooden gallery and the shingled roof against the sky. Turn round and the parapet gives the city: red tiles all the way to the Mariahilfer towers, the Mur cutting across, and the Styrian hills behind.

The terrace looks west, so it belongs to the end of the day — the last two hours light the roofs and the tower's stucco turns warm. Early morning is the quiet alternative: the paths are empty before nine, though the city sits in its own shade until the sun clears the hill.

Three ways go up: the Schlossbergbahn funicular from the Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Kai, the glass lift driven up through the rock from Schlossbergplatz, and the 260 steps of the Kriegssteig beside it. Funicular and lift are ticketed, the steps are free, and the terrace itself costs nothing. In winter the beeches are bare and the view is longer for it; snow up here is occasional, usually January.