Liechtenstein and a drive into the Alps

“I’ve always wanted to go to Switzerland and see what the army does with those wee red knives”  – Billy Connolly

After we left the hill top tavern in Tregen we continued along the scenic route and through the Ruppen Pass with yet more impressive views and then we picked up a main road that took us south through the low lying plains of the Appenzell region.  This wasn’t quite so scenic but as we drove the Alps got closer and their high peaks began to loom overhead rising in dramatic style from the meadows and arable farmlands of this relatively flat part of Switzerland.

Just before we crossed the border into Liechtenstein we came across a picturesque little town called Buchs where we stopped to admire the views of the Alps that completely surrounded this delightful little place and the attractive Lake Werdenberg.  We didn’t linger for long because by now we were excited about arriving at our destination so we moved on and resumed our gentle drive south.

Back on the road we missed one important turn that would have meant a significant detour and many extra kilometres down the wrong side of the Rhine if we hadn’t stopped and turned back and then we crossed the river and entered Liechtenstein with the minimum of fuss and no border controls.

Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest independent European state after the Vatican City, Monaco and San Marino and is closely aligned to Switzerland.  It is also the sixth smallest independent sovereign state in the World if you add Nauru and Tuvalu.  It is predominantly Germanic and the only German speaking state that does not have a national border with the National Republic.

When the Holy Roman Empire was abolished by Napoleon in 1806 everyone seemed to forget about this tiny Principality and the royal family were able to continue to exist as an independent state ever since and as such it is the only state in Europe with a remaining direct continuity with the thousand year old Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne.

It is one of only two countries in the world that are double landlocked (the other is Uzbekistan) as neither of its neighbours, Switzerland and Austria have access to the sea either.  It is therefore safe to say that fishing is probably not an important contributor to the economy in Liechtenstein.

We passed through the unremarkable state capitol of Vaduz with the castle of the ruling Prince, the Schloss Vaduz, perched high overhead and with magnificent views of all that he possesses stretched out below.  Out of the city we began our ascent to the village of Triesenberg a thousand metres above Vaduz into the Alps.

As we climbed a road with spectacular hairpin bends there was a sudden and dramatic change of weather and it unexpectedly started to rain, gently at first but about half way to the village it really started to pour which made driving more difficult than it might have been and we were glad when we arrived at the Hotel Kulm and parked the car in an underground car park sheltered from the rain.

After we had settled in we took our umbrellas, which we had hoped we wouldn’t need, and we walked to a nearby bar with an outside terrace overlooking the Rhine valley below and across into Switzerland and although it was still raining the terrace was sheltered and we took an outside table and enjoyed a drink and the magnificent view.

Although the rain was disappointing and the bar staff and the regulars appeared slightly bewildered by our insistence on sitting outside we would not have missed this view for the world and it was so good that after the first drink we had a second and stayed a while longer.  On the way back to the hotel we found a little shop and bought some wine (screw-cap of course) that we took back to the hotel and sat and drank some, well most of it actually, on our tiny bedroom terrace that overlooked the village and the mountains above.

Curiously, for only a small village, it had a magnificent bus service and we were surprised to see them arriving regularly every five minutes or so either going up to Malbun at the top of the mountain or down to Vaduz.  They were bright yellow and there were lots of passengers as well, although at this time of the day most were school children on their way home.

And there were bells too.  On the opposite side of the road was the Parish Church with a curious onion shaped dome from where the bells sounded out regularly.  We were confident however that there would almost certainly be a ring-free period through the night so we were not overly alarmed.

Thinking about evening meal we decided to dine in the Hotel restaurant and we were very glad that we did.  The food was exquisite, the view from the dining room was breathtaking and although it had an expensive ambience the bill was a pleasant surprise.   It was extremely popular with the local people as well and that is almost always a good recommendation for a restaurant.

After dinner we walked out again back to the bar up the hill and as it had stopped raining now and the skies were clearing we intended to sit out again for a nightcap but the terrace was locked now so we had to sit inside instead and drink in the company of locals at the next table.

We decided that we liked Liechtenstein and Switzerland and regretted not having spent an extra day here.

We tried to agree on the three things that make Switzerland famous.  Our final choice might have included watches, Roger Federer or Swiss army knives but in the end we agreed upon cuckoo clocks of course because even though they are strictly speaking from Germany the Swiss were important for introducing the ‘Chalet’style that they introduced at the end of nineteenth century.  Muesli, which was introduced around 1900 by Swiss doctor and nutritionist Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital in Zurich but most of all Toblerone, the Swiss chocolate bar that was invented by Theodore Tobler in 1908 in his factory in Bern.

Switzerland – Five Famous Things

In the morning we had a good late breakfast and the friendly owner of the hotel Sulzburg looked up the ferry crossing times for us on the internet website and the crossing scheduled for twenty past eleven looked absolutely perfect, so we checked out, said goodbye, promised to come back and set off towards Romanschorn.

We drove along the Seestrasse which runs directly along the side of the lake, first through the municipality of Horn which although being in the Canton of Arbon is separated from it by a part of the Canton of St. Gallen, and then the town of Arbon where I calculated that we had time to spare and so we parked the car and walked along the lake for one last look across the water from the Swiss side.

It was a lovely town, spotlessly clean with no litter or graffiti, manicured lawns and immaculate flower beds.  Switzerland was voted second in the World quality of life survey carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2006 and I imagine that a town like Arbon must have helped secure the high score (if you are wondering, France was first and the United Kingdom was eighteenth).  In the same survey, out of the top ten cities voted best to live in, Switzerland had three, Geneva, Zurich and Bern.

There was still plenty of spare time to get to the ferry terminal but then things went badly wrong and I followed signs to the passenger ferry instead of the car ferry and ended up on the wrong side of the harbour.  The ferry was in and cars were driving on but I just couldn’t find a way to get there.  Finally I had to drive out of the town and start again and we eventually arrived at the terminal to watch the ferry passing out of the harbour entrance.

The ferries run every hour so the only thing to do was to park the car and take a short walk into the town and have a relaxing beer and calm down.  We found a hotel with tables outside and we sat in the sun and talked about our holiday.

We tried to agree on five things that make Switzerland famous.  Our final choice might have included Roger Federer or Ursula Andress but in the end we agreed upon Swiss watches of course, that was obvious, cuckoo clocks because even though they are strictly speaking from Germany the Swiss were important for the ‘chalet’ style that they introduced at the end of nineteenth century and is the sort of cuckoo clock where it is common to have a Swiss music box with tunes like ‘Edelweiss’ and ‘The Happy Wanderer’.  Muesli, which was introduced around 1900 by the Swiss doctor and nutritionist Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital in Zurich.  Toblerone, the Swiss chocolate bar found in every airport duty-free shop that was invented by Theodore Tobler in 1908 in his factory in Bern but most of all we had to agree on the Swiss Army knife.

Various models of Swiss Army knives exist, with different tool combinations for specific tasks. The most common tools featured are, in addition to the main blade, a smaller second blade, tweezers, toothpick, corkscrew, can opener, bottle opener, slotted screwdriver, flat-head screwdriver, phillips-head screwdriver, nail file, scissors, saw, file, hook, magnifying glass, ballpoint pen, fish scaler, hex wrench w/bits, pliers and key chain. Recent technological features include USB flash drives, digital clock, digital altimeter, LED light, laser pointer, and MP3 player.

That’s a startling collection of potential weapons in one utensil but I can’t help thinking that it was a good job Switzerland didn’t go to war with Germany because I can’t imagine Hitler’s crack Panzer division being turned back by an army wielding nail-files and toothpicks.  Manufacturers today  supply over fifty thousand a year to the Swiss Army which works out at a new knife for every soldier just about every three years or so.

We decided that we liked Switzerland and wished that we could spend another couple of days here.  When it was time to leave we paid for our drinks with what has to be some of the finest bank notes in the world.  Everyone knows that the Swiss are fond of money and they leave no one in any doubt of this with the quality of their notes.  Not only are they brilliantly colourful but they are printed on high quality paper as well.

These bank notes reminded me of my dad’s insistence on always returning home from foreign holidays with currency for his personal treasure chest.  Even if it was 90˚ in the shade and everyone was desperate for a last drink at the airport dad was determined to bring a souvenir note or coin home and would hang on with a steadfast determination and would deny last minute drinks to everyone so long as he could get his monetary mementos back home safely.  How glad I am of that because now they belong to me and my left-over Swiss bank notes have been added to the collection.

Soon it was time to go so not wishing to miss a second ferry we returned to the terminal in good time, joined the queue of traffic and eventually boarded the boat.  We took a seat on the top deck and watched Switzerland slip away and Germany draw closer and as we looked back there was a dramatic sky with big rolling clouds over the Alps and a tourist zeppelin negotiating its route around the edge of the lake.

After forty minutes we were back in the Federal Republic and passing through customs and reassuring the border guards that we had nothing to declare.  This all seemed a bit unnecessary but I suppose Switzerland isn’t in the European Union and rules are rules!  Interestingly Germany has more neighbours and borders on mainland Europe than any other European country, which I suppose partly explains why they were so dangerous at various times in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

No prizes but see if you can name all nine, the answer is at the foot of the page.

 

Germany’s neighbours:

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. At various times in the twentieth century it has invaded or annexed all of them except Switzerland.  Lucky Switzerland!  Austria and France both have eight European mainland neighbours.