Day 5: Liechtenstein

Another of those sunny days. Chilly in Malbun, but I suspected - correctly - that it would be an awful lot warmer in the lowlands.

Well, I've pretty much done what I can around Malbun, and my mission today was to Eschen, which sounded interesting. There was supposed to be a themed walk, and walks into the mountains. So I got on the bus. The view of the Rhine Valley was reliably stunning, and I noticed that, if you do the descent to Vaduz all in one trip, the corkscrew roads are quite dizzying. The connection in Vaduz was quite easy - we all just trooped onto the bus in front. And I got off in Eschen.

The bus stop in Eschen is quite discreet - I found myself looking for landmarks so I'd recognise it again. From what I saw, there seem to be two monuments. One is a church, currently completely enclosed in scaffolding. The other is the Pfrundhaus, beside it, which is where the walks are supposed to start from. (Photos, again, on FB.)

Well, it certainly wasn't hard to find. I walked all around it. It looked very nice, but I couldn't see a way in. Nor could I see any information signs. Nor could I see a tourist office. Nor could I see any of the ubiquitous "wanderweg" signs. I wandered to the other end of the street. There was a branch of Migros. I wandered around it for a while, then returned to the "bus stop" to see what time the next bus out was (dodging the beer-guzzling teenagers).

I decided my next best move was to go to Nendeln, which at least is closer to the big mountains. A bus headed there came along shortly, but left while I was trying to figure out whether it was going the right way. Fortunately, another appeared minutes later, and hung around for a while - I think there was a minor technical issue. So I had time to figure it out and get on. And get off five minutes later, in Nendeln. Compact country, this. (And I have now used the value of my bus pass, yay!)

I wandered in the direction of the massive mountain in front of me. By the wanderweg signs that had finally appeared, I had two choices: Planken or Schaanwald. I read about Planken last night - it sounds lovely, on the side of the mountain and, proverbially, the start of many hiking trails. It also sounds unfeasible for me. Besides, that looked like a hard road up to it - and is, by all accounts. And the sun was beating down. So, I set off towards Schaanwald.

I was soon high above Nendeln, and before long found myself in the forest. Which made a nice change, and gave some shelter from the sun. And I wandered along the marked forest path for a good while - until the proverbial happened, and I was faced with a slope I couldn't handle. So back I came again, found the bus stop, and got the bus back to Vaduz. Frankly, I was looking forward to a rest. Did my now habitual trick of getting the bus to Triesenberg, popping into the excellent shop beside the bus stop, and getting the bus to Malbun a convenient while later. I swear, that bus timetable is deliberately designed to facilitate the shop. And as the bus climbed to the tunnel, and came out the other side, I again marvelled at the astonishing scenery, which quite literally takes my breath away every time I make this journey.

When I got back to the hotel, the Galina Hotel, across the road, was holding yet another falconry display - they had one as I was leaving this morning, too. It's quite a feature of theirs - they hold them in the beer garden, but also have a stand built for spectators. Me, I sat on my balcony, finished off my wine and enjoyed the sunshine. A good afternoon all round.

For dinner, the main problem hereabouts is the sameness of the menus, combined with the price. My solution is the Hotel Turna, which offers a more varied, and price-conscious menu. And never fear, you still get friendly service by ladies in dirndls, and antlers on the walls. Highly recommended. Tonight, ironically, I had exactly the same as I had for that infamous lunch yesterday. Higher quality though, and no desperate runs to the toilet - yet.. their version of rosti, by the way, is quite salty, but v tasty.

Tomorrow, I have a yen to do the walk to Balzers. However, I'm making the executive decision to take the bus to the closest point - Triesen Vaschiel. I doubt not there are wanderweg signs there, I shouldn't get lost.. :-)