"Oh, my husband is Liechtensteiner!"

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Today we embarked on a 10 day road trip around Europe. We have a vague idea of where we want to go, but will also let the road take us where it will. Our target area for today was Fussen, Germany and the famous Neuschwanstein Castle. After a confusing drive from the city center to the freeway (GREEN signs mean freeway, blue is side roads, white is tiny streets), we decided to detour off to Appenzel for lunch. Appenzel is famous for its cheeses. We had a nice warm bowl of pumpkin soup (it was a foggy, chilly day) followed by a plate with a sampling of the local cheeses. Then came dessert and the best chocolate mousse I have ever had; it was so fluffy it was like chocolate air!

Upon consulting the map over lunch, we noticed we were very near Liechtenstein and decided we had to pop in. Just outside of Appenzel we stopped to take a few photos of the countryside. Another couple was just returning to their car after a hike. We struck up a conversation with the wife who apologized for her poor English (which her enthusiasm more than made up for), and when we mentioned going to Lichtenstein, she beamed "Oh, my husband is Liechtensteiner!" He smiled proudly from ear to ear and was eager to tell us about his small country. They told us we must make the 30 minute drive from the capital Vaduz out to Malbun, a small ski village literally at the end of the road. We thought that sounded like a great idea, thanked them, and headed out.

Vaduz is situated along a river, with Switzerland on the Western side. To the East, it is all tall mountains with Austria on the other side. To the East and "above" town is the castle where the Prince and his family live to this day therefore it is not open to tourists. From the castle, we drove out the one road into the mountains through several villages until we arrived in Malbun. The couple we met earlier were right - it was absolutely beautiful! Situated in a valley surrounded by high peaks, Malbun offers breathtaking views. While strolling through town, we met little Chimmy and his owner who recommended the XXX Inn right next to the ski lift. We enjoyed a very nice dinner in the hotel restaurant before turning in. We awoke early so that we could take the ski lift up when it opened at 8AM. We were rewarded with stunning views of the sun rising over the mountains and the valley below!

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Photos

Pretty Much All of Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein consists primarily of this river valley, and up to the first peaks behind it (to the left). It extends a bit to the right of this photo, but this is pretty much it. On the other side of the river is Switzerland.

Appenzel
Photo taken by a proud Liechtensteiner.

Restaurant BAD
We opted not to eat here. LOL. (Bad just means bath in German).

Main Drag in Vaduz
The main town is a bit bigger than this, but this is pretty much what the rest of lower Liechtenstein looked like.

Liechtenstein Castle
This castle is in active use by the royal family. The flags fly when the Prince is in residence.

Narrow Road
Lichtenstein has absolutely tiny roads. We would be on these roads with no centerline that looked one way, and all of a sudden a bus would be coming the other way, and you'd have to back up to a wide part in the road.

Foggy Valley
This is the main valley of Liechtenstein.

Rental Car
We had a sweet rental car. A brand new VW Jetta manual 6-speed turbo diesel.

Malbun II
It stays quite dark in the valley due to the mountains on the east and west of the village.

Malbun III
The rows of "sticks" near the top of the mountain prevent avalanches, and are used everywhere in the alps.

Chimi
A very friendly Pekinese.

Mountain Cross
On the top of each peak around Malbun there was a cross.

Fog Sea
The fog from the valley didn't make it as high as Malbun.

Malbun Peak
At the top of the chairlift.

Lone Cabin
This lone cabin was amazingly remote - the only structure on this entire peak.

The Next Valley
Malbun is in the valley behind the photographer, and it's possible that this valley is Austria.

Downtown Malbun
The lift back down to the village.

Our Hotel
In the bottom left, right next to the lift. Only maybe 1/10th of the hotels and guest houses are open in Oct and Nov.

Surveying the Kingdom
The size of Liechtenstein is pretty compelling for imagining yourself the ruler of a land. The country is quite literally just as far as you can see.

Comments

[angela]

gorgeous
love chimi! nice rental car, too! oh i wanna see food pictures then too!! ;)