Thursday, July 29, 2010

Liechtenstein – 21 July 2010

Leaving Italy, we drove through two mountain passes in Switzerland to reach Liechtenstein.

During the drive across Switzerland, we saw a sign to a 'World Monument' bridge. This sounded worth a detour, and although the sat-nav said it was 2.9k east, it turned out to be a torturous narrow winding road to a beautiful art-deco bridge from 1930. We were expecting an old historical bridge, and were totally surprised by this beautiful, elegant, modern looking bridge. The roads it serves, does not seem worthy of such a masterpiece. The Salginatobel Bridge is one of the structures awarded 'World Monument' status and shares this honour with such engineering masterpieces as the Eiffel Tower and the Panama Canal.

We carried on through river valleys to reach the most non-border crossing on our trip thus far; two sets of flags, announced we had reached Liechtenstein. We found a very pleasant campsite, then set out to explore the capital – Vaduz.

The look of Vaduz is modern and prosperous. New and old buildings are side by side, with attractive gardens and a general well kept appearance. Obviously being small can be beautiful.

Our meal at the camp that evening was delicious, although expensive compared to France and Italy.




Just as we got back to our tent, the blue sky changed very rapidly to black, and a violent electrical storm moved in. It was so violent, that the tent threatened to leave it's moorings, and the guys ropes we usually ignore were rapidly brought into service. We decided to retire to bed, and when we woke up in the morning, we were greeted with another beautiful day, perhaps this is normal in the Alps.

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