Germany and the Enclave Tour Fall 2015 Part 5: Traveling through Liechtenstein Faduz

Date of visit: 26 October 2015 Weather: fine

Now it’s time to start sightseeing in Faduz.

About Liechtenstein

はじめに、ヨーロッパの小国「リヒテンシュタイン公国」について簡単におさらいします。以下では、Wikipediaを参考に加工して書きます。

First of all, the place is around here.

南北に25キロメートル、東西に6キロメートルしかない非常に小さい国（世界で6番目に小さい）です。面積は160km2。このサイトによると、東京23区（621 平方km）の4分の1程度、アメリカ合衆国で1年間に消費されるピザの合計面積（450 – 500 平方km）の3分の1程度だそうです。

The head of state is the Prince of Liechtenstein, who is decided by the male hereditary system, and has a strong political authority, so it is sometimes called « the last absolute monarchy in Europe ». Because of this, it is sometimes called « the last absolute monarchy in Europe. » However, because a modern, constitutional government and the rule of law have been established, the people can live freely like other Europeans.

The Liechtensteins were originally German nobles from Donauwelt in the Bavarian Swabia region of southern Germany, and from around the 14th century they came to serve the Habsburgs of the Holy Roman Empire. Then, in 1719, the Holy Roman Emperor, Karl VI, approved that the Faduz countship and the Schellenberg barony, which had been acquired by the Liechtensteins, should be combined to form the Principality of Liechtenstein, and this is said to be the beginning of Liechtenstein.

リヒテンシュタイン家は、ヨーロッパでも最も財産を持つ貴族でもありました。その領地は、ここファドゥーツ周辺にとどまらず、オーストリアやチェコにも広がっていました。オーストリアの領地は今でもリヒテンシュタイン家の所有なのですが、チェコの領地に関しては、第二次世界大戦後、チェコ・スロヴァキアが社会主義国家となったことで、当時の政府に没収されてしまいました。ということで、長らくチェコ・スロヴァキアとは敵対する間柄だったとのことです。でも最近は関係が改善されつつあるようです。

ところで、リヒテンシュタインの正式名称はドイツ語で「Fürstentum Liechtenstein」といいます。ということで、略称はこの頭文字をとって「FL」。クルマのナンバーもこのようになっております。ナンバープレートもその色合いがかっこいいですねー。

The currency is the Swiss Franc (CHF). However, you can also use Euro. However, 1 CHF = 1 EUR, so you will lose some money if you use Euro. Also, Liechtenstein became a member of the Schengen Agreement in 2011, so basically there are no immigration checks when moving between bordering countries.

Get a map at the tourist information center.

Now that I’ve described Liechtenstein, I’ll write about the actual sightseeing. We moved from the hotel to Faduz and parked our car in some parking lots in the center. There were many parking lots. It’s a parking ticket thing, but for some reason the machine in the parking lot where we parked wouldn’t let us buy a ticket. Because it can not be helped, I left it and headed for sightseeing as it is. Let’s give up if something happens.

Well, I wanted to start sightseeing, but it seems that my mobile WiFi (I paid for a prepaid SIM in Germany, but since I was going to other countries, I rented it with my Europe tour plan. So I couldn’t use apps like TripAdvisor to look up recommended places. And the map. I had done some research beforehand, but I was worried about not having anything at all.

まあそんな時はとりあえずインフォメーションだ。中央広場に行き市庁舎を発見。そこの正面が観光案内所でした。

And you will get a map. It seems to be able to do sightseeing enough with this. The illustrated map is very nice.

Now you can finally start sightseeing.

Get an immigration stamp

The first place we aimed for was this « Liechtenstein Center ».

ここへ来た目的は、[highlight]「リヒテンシュタインの入国スタンプ」[/highlight]をゲットすること。5CHFでこんな感じでパスポートに押してもらうことができます。

Colorful and stylish stamp. You can feel the aura of the royal family. By the way, Liechtenstein has been a member of the Schengen Agreement since 2011, so this stamp is not an official one, but just a commemorative one for tourism. But I was happy because it proves that I’ve been to this country.

In addition, you can enjoy shopping in this building because they sell souvenirs.

When I think of Liechtenstein, I think of « stamps. »

Next, we went to the Postage Stamp Museum, which is located right next to the Liechtenstein Center.

I heard that Liechtenstein is famous for its stamps. However, it is said that they mainly printed and sold commemorative stamps.

Speaking of European mail, there is a « post horn ». I wondered if it was actually used, and it was displayed. Because the post horn is the mark of the mail in every country in Europe.

No entrance fee. It was very quiet and we were the only visitors. However, the stamps sold as souvenirs are certainly all very nice and make you want to buy them.

Yes, speaking of stamps, there is this one on the main street.

It seems to be conscious of China. There were a lot of Chinese tourists in this town, but is there any relation?

Walking around the city

After leaving the stamp museum, I decided to stroll around the city aimlessly for a while.

This is St. Florent’s Church, which was at the very end of the pedestrian area. I think it is Catholic because it belonged to the Habsburg family.

To Faduz Castle, a hill overlooking the city.

Next, we went to the hill overlooking the city of Faduz, where the castle is located. You can’t enter the castle, but you can get close to it, so we decided to take a look at the city from there. We went back to the square where the town hall is, where we got the map earlier, and aimed at the castle from there.

We climbed up the slope with the help of various signs.

From time to time, we take a break to see the beautiful view, and repeat this to go up.

Finally, we arrived at the castle. The road in front of the castle was very nicely maintained. The autumn leaves of the mountains were very beautiful.

I thought that Faduz Castle was more powerful and magnificent than I expected. It was different from the image I saw from below.

Again, the castle is not open to the public.

We enjoyed the beautiful view from the hill where the castle is located, and we could see about the city center.

In addition, there were some other museums, but we couldn’t visit them because they were closed. There was also a treasure museum, but we decided to skip it because we needed to get a mysterious coin somewhere and we are not interested in treasures.

Once back at City Hall Square, we had a light lunch and then headed back to the parking lot. Finally, we will go to that one more important destination.

Wines of the Realm

At the end of the day, yes, there is an important souvenir point, here. I must buy a bottle of the delicious wine I drank last night.

Because Liechtenstein is a small country, wine is not exported as a rule. So, you have to visit and buy directly.

Yes, this is it. The emblem I saw last night. It’s cool.

The view of Faduz Castle from the wine shop. I’m getting more and more attached to this castle.

Now, into the building. As usual, we were the only customers. It seemed that we could do various tastings, but since we had been drinking last night and had plans for later, we decided to do our business quickly.

There were a lot of Pinot Noir varieties, and we drank them last night, so we focused on those first. Then we selected Merlot and Riesling for the rest. We got a total of 6 bottles of wine. This was still a total of about 15,000 yen.