Vaduz - Feldkirch

Last evening we took a wander around Vaduz  - we had been warned not to expect an old medieval town even though the town is overlooked by the princely castle of the Von Liechtensteins. The small county is squeeze between the Rhine and the Austrian Alps. Liechtenstein is a democratic monarchy with its huge wealth stemming from banking and businesses setting up headquarters here because of the low tax regime. 

The town is very modern with the most interesting aspect being the gigantic covered square where hundreds were watching the England v Columbia on a large screen - and I suspect they were favouring the Columbians! Unfortunately, we didn’t stay to the end. 

Today:

A comedy of errors this morning! We needed petrol before we ventured much further - two petrol stations showed up on GMaps in our vicinity - but neither would take cash, and we had a lot of Swiss Francs we needed to get rid of. Then, after shopping at the supermarket  a window cleaner refused to open the exit door to let people out - until he had finished his cleaning! After he refused our  polite requests to let us through, a little force on the door was in order! Not the normal Swiss way of doing things - normally so polite and obliging.  

By mid morning the clouds appeared across the mountains, followed by loud thunder and lightening, and we were treated to a thunder storm of considerable proportions - including some serious hail stones. 

After our first world problems sorted, we drove through to Feldkirch in Austria. Feldkirch is an interesting city, it appears that it is totally surrounded by mountains. We drove into Feldkirch through a tunnel and left the city later through a tunnel. The medieval city centre lies at the foot of the Schattenburg (castle), the ancestral seats of the  Counts of Montfort. 

The Schattenburg Castle with the tunnel exiting the city directly under the foundations!

View of the Cathedral from the castle. 

Some useful Austrian Quizz Night trivia about Feldkirch would be; about the 1200s Hugo of Montford set up some farms here, in 1256 the Schattenburg Castle was commenced, in 1647 the Swedes conquered the town, in 1649 Martha Lochbüchlerin was tortured and sentenced in the last witch trial, in 1865 Arthur Conan Doyle studied German here, and, in 2008 the Markgasse (market Street) was used in scene in the  James Bond movie “The Quantum of Solace “. Now isn’t that interesting!

We left Feldkirch and drove on to Vandans, a small village in the Montafon Valley. The Golmer Joch rises to 2124 m just behind us! A train service  runs through the valley, but besides this it is so quite and peaceful - no wonder it is popular with walkers and riders. 

Rapperswil - Vaduz

A much cooler morning after a thunderstorm passed through the valley. This necessitated a slower morning, followed by a long chat with the Finnish couple parked alongside. By the time we got away a good part of the morning had vanished.  

The drive from Hütten to Lake Zurich was short but very spectacular. As we decended into Altendorf the views across the lake to the mountains in the distance provided this wonderful vista. 

Had a little problem in Altendorf where we incorrectly paid for someone else’s fuel - about ten times the cost of ours - and the service station couldn’t credit the amount back to us! The solution was that the other guy paid us the difference in the cost in Swiss Francs - just the currency we were trying to get rid of! Now we have more Francs than we need for the rest of the day.

After a little shopping we crossed the causeway over the lake and visited the small village of Rapperswil, a little lakeside village with a quaint older section. We wandered through the cobblestone alleys, passed the 16th century Abbey which then led to the 13th century castle perched on the rocky outcrop at the end of the peninsula. 

The rose gardens were a feature of the town in recognition of the city’s moniker  - “The City of Roses”. One of the gardens was just full of scented roses,  designed to enable wheelchair access and access by the blind - a very lovely touch. 

One thing we didn’t expect to find in Rapperswil was an Australian Shop with all things Australian - a great deal of R M Williams gear. We had a chat to the lady running the shop who had an interesting story, and her business was doing well. 


We later said farewell to Switzerland and drove through some remarkable mountain valleys and tunnels! We reached Vaduz in Liechtenstein late in the afternoon. We decided to stay here for the night. 

Lucerne

We visited Lucerne today, a town we first visited 39 years ago! A lot has changed but much remains the same. The major change is the huge increase in the number of people, either visiting, or living here.

We parked our van near the marina and walked into Lucerne which took us through the railway station - the number of people, either departing or arriving, via the Swiss railway system was incredible. Next door was the bus terminal and that was operating “flat-chat” - people everywhere. This is a reminder to stick to the “back-roads” and the smaller centres!

Also it was interesting to see a large modern building alongside the railway and bus centres which was the university - near as possible to transport and the centre of the town.  By the look of the bike racks outside the university, every student must ride to the campus. 

Our look at the town commenced about mid morning with the temperature rapidly rising - so, the timer was ticking for how long before we wilted. 

The iconic 14th century Water Tower, the most photographed monument in Switzerland (so we were told), and the associated Chapel Bridge were our first stopping points - along with  every other visitor to Lucerne! 

The interior of the large baroque Jesuit Church - built in the 17th century. It is said that the acoustics of this charming church are near perfect. 

The poor relation of bridges is the Spreuer Bridge (Chaff Bridge), just downstream from the Chapel Bridge. It is the oldest wooden bridge in Switzerland - competed in 1408. It was here that the farmers could cast the chaff, from their cereal crops,  into the river. 

Lucerne was settled in the 12th century with its fortifications being built around 200 years later.  The Water Tower was part of these fortification, being used as a lookout tower and a defence structure at that time. The Chapel Bridge is the oldest and second longest timber roofed Bridge in Europe. Bet the Swiss are glad they rebuilt it after the partial fire in 1993!

We later walked the northern fortifications over looking the town, before wandering through the old town - looking like a new town with all the swanky shops.  At this stage it was starting to get hot and well past lunchtime, so we cut our losses and returned to the van. 

After lunch we drive through some very picturesque Swiss rural landscapes to the town of Hütten, just south of Lake Zürich (Zurichsee), for our overnight stop. Another delightful rural village too, so quite and restful after the hustle of Lucerne and the very busy motorways. 

Bern

Another very hot day today in Switzerland, but, again, with a gentle beeeze making it manageable. Our plan was to visit Bern a little later in the day.  The early morning was just superb, with a very Mediterranean feel in the air.  

We joined Bettina and Sigi for a very enjoyable breakfast, after which, we all went to have an inspection of Bettina and Sigi’s new van. Their  first major long journey was to Greece just a few week ago, during which time they sorted out any of the problems a new van can have. Later we followed them to the motorway to set us in our way to Bern. A lovely couple, and a very enjoyable couple of days with them.  Thanks Bettina and Sigi.

In our drive this morning, we caught a glimpse of the seasons  first crop of the flowering sunflowers. We had been noticing many earlier but these were the first flowering crop we passed. 

In arriving in Bern,  the day had got considerably hotter. Where we had planned to park, a large flea market was in full swing. This was checked out before a place nearby opened up and allowed us a parking area with some shade - something that was at a premium!

We had lunch before a look around this fabulous old town was contemplated. The town of Bern was founded  in the late 12th century, nearly 300 years later  most of the wooden buildings were destroyed by fire and the existing stone building, we see today,  were built in their place. The old city has 6 kilometre of arcades which makes shopping a pleasure (perhaps, for some!) in all weather. 

Aerial view of the old city of Bern built in the bend of the Aare river. 

Restaurants spilling out from the arcades. 

Marktgasse lined with stone buildings with arcades along the ground level. 

One of the attractions of the town is the bear pit which has been part of the city since the 16th century- today it only houses 4 bears - only two could be seen today - both  in the water cooling off!

Being a UNESCO listed town there are many sites to view with, perhaps, the Zytglogge (Time Bell), an elaborate medieval clock tower with moving puppets, being the most famous. This has become an icon since it was installed in 1530, being one of the oldest in Switzerland and has an astonishing astronomical clock below. 

There are many fountains around the city with polychrome statues of real personalities from the city’s history adorning the tops. 

The gothic cathedral is from the 15th century. 

A weeping bishop is part of the sculptures on the facade of the main doorway. 

With the day still getting warmer a return to the van was necessary, and shortly after we headed off to our over night stop in Langenthal. 

Erlach

From first light this morning you could feel that it was going to be a hot day - an early morning walk just confirmed this observation. Carried out our normal domestic chores before packing up the van and heading off to Erlach, a village - oops, city - on the shore of  Bielersee (Lake Biel). And, now in the German speaking part of Switzerland.  

It was only a short drive to Erlach and the home of Sigi and Bettina. A lovely welcome was waiting for us in the form of a special sign in a reserve parking area near their home.

Bettina and Sigi made us most welcome, spending the morning, and much of the afternoon, catching up with all the happenings in our lives over the past few years. Later in the afternoon- the temperature had risen to well over 30 degrees - we took a walk along the shores of Bielersee where many Swiss families we also trying to get some relief from the heat. We found ours at the lakeside bar where we enjoyed a few drinks while watching the knockout game between France and Argentina. 

The Swiss inspired pulley system to transfer all the barbecue items down to the ground level. 

Bettina and Helene. 

Later we returned to Bettina  and Sigi’s for a barbecue dinner including pork steaks, chicken and delicious German potato salad, etc. A lovely evening, great companions and much to discuss well into the late hours.  

Photo Free Day!

Yes, a photo free day, so you can all have a rest!

But, just in case you can’t go cold turkey, I’ll share some snaps that missed the cut (and for good reasons!) on previous postings!  

Here the beautiful cows of Gruyères are assemding to heaven. 

I thought outback Oz was the place for flies! Switzerland has their own swarms. 

Language can sometimes get you into trouble! This cheese shredder has an unfortunate title. 

Beautiful tiling patterns on many old rooves. 


Some beautiful deep purple lavender. 


... and a succulent frog!