Wednesday 23 August 2017

Lichtenstein - A mordern spot in the middel of the antique


So this summer we went on a small road trip and while we were around, we took a quick trip to Lichtenstein.
Licktenstein is my third visit to a "microstate" in Europe. I camped in Luxembourg many years ago with my parents and really loved Luxenbourg city which was full of life and it was crazy to see all the mordern people in their fancy working clothes everywhere. I was in Andorra in 2014 when i went to guide school. We were only there for a day to shop and trying River Rafting for the first time.

Lictenstein was very different. Andorra and Luxembourg are all about cheap shopping. Lots of designer brands are a lot cheaper here than everywhere else in Europe. But that's not at all the same in Lichtenstein. Lictenstein is very expensive. I guess they have that from thier neighbor Schwitzerland which is too damn expensive as well. But the "shopping" streets in Vaduz is really empty anyway. There isn't really much. I had to remind myself that it wasn't any bigger than 160 km2 and they can't have much considering all the mountains they have as well. But it really isn't the best place for tourists. I think it's the fact that you can tell that you were there afterwards that makes people come. And well.. the stamp in your passport you can buy for 3 euros in the tourist information.

There was one thing i was interested in and it's the pretty castle on the top of a "mountain" right behind Vaduz. Schloss Vaduz is the official residence of the Prince of Liechtenstein, so you can't visit it as a tourist. It's a shame now that it's one of the only tourist attractions, but i do understand if the royal family don't want anyone running around.

The picture above is taken down the "main street" in Vaduz and as you can see it's very modern, which again is very much like their neighbor Schwitzerland are. I just expected it to be a lot more old-fashion and with an "alt stadt" like you see everywhere in the surrounding countries. But they have a lot of modern art galleries and art in the streets. Their facination about modern art shows in their souvenirs as well and the princes shows that most of it has some kind of artists name on it or brand. The chain stores like H&M is no where to be seen either. So it's a place for you, if you have a very big wallet and an interest for modern art.