What's the final country that borders Austria? Errr…Luxembourg? No wait, Liechtenstein!
Liechtenstein indeed.
Although I haven’t yet been to Slovakia, Hungary or Slovenia as I endeavour to cross all of Austria’s eight borders, I can now tick of Liechtenstein - the smallest and most underrated (in my opinion) of them all. Travelling on Thursday after work, I took a direct, albeit lengthy train from Vienna to Vaduz while my friend had a much more patchwork journey all the way from Birmingham.
Unlike usual travel planning when I try to cram in as much as possible each day, inevitably not having time for a few top attractions or Tripadvisor 'must-sees', in Liechtenstein it was the opposite. Said friend and I made sure NOT to do too much on day one, so as to have enough for day two. But for what Liechtenstein lacks in size (and sights), it makes up for in....lamas! An unexpected highlight of our adventure was a farm full of the fluffy creatures on the sloping pastures of Triesenberg. One electric shock aside, we happily killed a good hour there, avoiding the infamous spittle, before foraying on into the woods to the confusion of locals. I'm pretty sure we, as tourists, were the sights to behold!
Vaduz Castle, the country's second best attraction (spot number one being taken by the Price himself), was sadly closed for construction. But we admired the outside through the scaffolding then wandered down the hill and into the Landesmuseum. 'Eclectic' is the word that springs to mind when describing this museum. Granted, there were spatterings of Liechtenstinian history but the giant taxidermy room and football World Cup exhibition were difficult to overlook.
Safe to say, we didn't expect too much from the Kunstmuseum next door but were swiftly enamoured with it by the FREE TEA on offer. As if that weren't enough, we then managed to cadge our way up into the roof of the museum at the tail end of an architecture group. I'm still not quite sure what we were looking at up there....
We walked a lot this weekend. To and from Triesen to Vaduz twice daily. The highlight of these strolls was certainly the good half hour spent border hopping between Liechtenstein and Switzerland on a bridge. If only I were joking....
We were treated to all weathers too - sun, downpour, mist and snow. To anyone reading this who's tempted by a trip to Europe's 6th smallest country, I highly recommend! Just be prepared to be asked by anyone and everyone you encounter, "but why are you here?"
