I recently did a day trip to Liechtenstein, the 6th smallest country in the world, and 4th smallest in Europe! I have a fascination with micro-states. This one is very interesting. It borders Austria and Switzerland. They speak German but most people I encountered also spoke English. The country is headed by a Prince. The whole country is only 25 kms long and about 6 kms wide. You could walk across it! We started our visit in the capital of Vaduz. The population of Vaduz is about 5,000, and the whole country is only about 40,000! Here was the Prince’s castle perched above the capital.
We entered from the Swiss side and the way you will know you are in the country is when you cross the river. There are no border controls, just this sign.
Once we crossed, the GPS in the car updated the info for the country which was pretty cool.
The day we went, there was some sort of festival going on in the town. One cool souvenir you can take with you is a passport stamp from the tourism office.
One of the things I really wanted was authentic local food. Every place I went to in the capital suggested that we had to go outside the capital for this. I did some research and settled on Wirtschaft zum Lowen.
It was about a 20 minute drive from Vaduz through some very charming countryside and villages.
Here is a look at the exterior and interior of the place. It had a very charming Alpine feel.
Here are some of the foods we ate:
Käsknöpfle – the national dish. Noodles/Dumplings with fried onions and cheese served with apple sauce.
Schwartenmagen (head cheese); I also got to try a local wine which I was excited about.
Veal with rosti (the national dish of Switzerland) in a mushroom sauce. I believe this is called Geschnetzelte.
For dessert, a traditional pancake with cherry compote. I believe this is called Pfannkuchen.
Overall service was fantastic and the food was good. We spoke to a few locals who asked where we were from as they don’t see many tourists in this area. It was an amazing experience and I recommend this place if you are in town/country :).
After leaving the restaurant, we wandered the village a bit and came across this house with sheep in the yard. Actually, a lot of people had sheep in their yard. What a charming country! Here are some street views and sheep views.
Before leaving the country, I had to get a picture with one foot in Liechtenstein and one in Switzerland.
Next stop – Zurich.