Crossing Borders

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Hello my fellow travellers!

This day has really been packed to the brim! We started the day with a steady breakfast together with Brigitt and the other couch-surfer, Tim from England. Today we also met Sam, he's a nice American who is living with Brigitt and Jürg for 2 months while studying.

First thing on our schedule today was to go to Liechtenstein, first you take a bus to Schaan where you can then switch to Vaduz or to Feldkirch which is in Austria. When we learned about this and that our Swisspass is valid there as well we decided to go there after Vaduz!

Reaching Vaduz takes roughly 20 minutes from Buchs and said and done we started our journey there. The weather at first was quite bad with heavy rains so Brigitt and Tim decided to stay behind in Buchs and do some shopping. Luckily for me and Andreas the weather really improved during the day.

Let me tell you that Vaduz is simply spectacular! It is really beautifully perched in a valley with the castle crowning above it and the hillsides are lined with vineyards. It's very picturesque and charming! We first paid a visit to the Cathedral of Saint Florin which is quite beautiful.

Since our Swisspass covered the National Museum we also visited it, it's not spectacular by any means though but it has it's charm. Worth a visit if you have the Swisspass but otherwise I'm not sure if it's really worth the entrance fee because it's quite small and doesn't house that many objects of note.

After our visit to the museum we embarked on a hike up to the castle, passing by the Red House in the way. The Red House is located in a really picturesque location and well worth a visit in it's own right! The hike up the mountain was really sweaty but oh was it worth it! The view along the way is breathtaking and on the top, next to the castle is a balcony-like observation post where you get a true panoramic view of Vaduz!

Of course the castle itself is quite beautiful but you can't go inside, after all the royal family still lives there and they are still very much in power. One of the men we met on the way told us that he offered to abdicate a while ago in favour of a democracy but the people here love him so much that they asked him to stay!

When we felt that we where satisfied with Vaduz we jumped on a bus to Feldkirch which takes about 50 minutes from Vaduz. On the way we passed through Schaan again and I spotted a nice little church and told Andreas that we'd go see it on the way back.

Feldkirch is such a charming town, Brigitt told me that she often goes there to just have a coffee and I understand why. The river that flows through the town is lined with medieval towers such as the tall and impressive Cat's Tower, the charming Thieves Tower and the aptly named Water Tower. Perched on top of the hill in the city stands the castle Schattenburg. We also visited the Saints Peter and Paul Church that housed many old graves as well as the old Capuchin Monastery and the Saint Nicholas Cathedral. I really recommend a visit to this town as it has such a relaxed vibe about it and is filled to the brim with historical sights of interest, and you know I love that.

While returning to Buchs we did as I said and stopped for a while in Schaan and visited the small and very beautiful Church of Saint Laurentius. When we came back to Buchs it was time for us to go to the See Café for a language coffee which Brigitt and Jürg attends every week. Basically people meet and talk to each other in various languages, one per table. Me and Andreas joined the German table and brushed up a bit on out ancient skills in this language. There was also a Spanish table which Tim went to and a Russian table.

At the German table was me, Andreas, Brigitt, Jürg and a woman from Germany whose name unfortunately eludes me now. She was very nice though and very patient with our feeble attempts at her language. We also met a nice couple from Czech Republic who was about to move to New Zealand and start their own construction company.

Once we all split up Brigitt and Jürg cycled back home while me and Andreas took an evening stroll through the Werdenberg town which is located in Buchs. Werdenberg is actually the smallest town in Switzerland and it's very intact and original. People still live there though so you have to be very respectful even though it feels like an open air museum. There is also a beautiful castle located on the top of the hill and walking around here feels as if walking through a medieval town!

When returning to Brigitt and Jürg they had given us the wrong key which caused some funny fumbling attempts by me and Andreas before we finally called Brigitt and she let us in.

Tomorrow we will go to the capital of Bern and mainly walk around in the old city.

Until tomorrow I wish you all peace and happy travels!

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Comments

[Home and Away]

Ahhh, you went back to Buchs after Vaduz...
and got some great pictures of their castle!

[A Small Swede in the Big World]

Ahhh, you went back to Buchs after Vaduz...
...absolutely. =) We stayed with Brigitt and Jürg for our whole time in Switzerland. The castle is magnicifcent, glad you liked the pictures of it. =)