Of all places of the world, Liechtenstein is the one I never gave any thought before my surprisingly adventurous last summer. People like me* usually have nothing to do with the tax paradise of Europe, and there is a reason for it, haha.**
* people coming from Eastern-European countries and living on nurses’ salaries
** there was that awkward moment, when I got confronted with the price of one single scoop of Liechtensteinian ice cream; it’s the equivalent of 4 euros in CHF. It made me immediately realise that despite having come a long way since my Socialist childhood, I’m still very, very far from blending in
Anyway. If you all of a sudden, under whatever circumstances, find yourself in Vaduz, as it happened to me simply by becoming a travel nurse, you really should take the time to visit the last remaining wooden bridge over the river Alpenrhein.
You may take the bus there, because public traffic in Liechtenstein is excellent…

…except when it’s not. Because it’s early in the morning. Or late in the afternoon. Or it is Saturday. Or Sunday. Or any other holiday.

Fortunately, everything is in walking distance in Vaduz, so if you are too impatient to wait a whole hour for the next bus, just take the road and walk along some poetic scenario…

…and a colourful industrial area…

…until you reach the Alpenrhein…

…and your destination, the Alte Rheinbrücke.

It is 135 meter long…

…and is made completely of wood.

The original bridge was built in 1871. During the following 140 years it needed to be adjusted to the actual water capacity of the river several times.

The last renovation took place in 2010. There is a small memorial plaque hanging inside of the bridge to one of construction workers, the carpenter Andreas Maier-Toth, who recently passed away. Similar to the half of this planet’s population, he too had Hungarian roots.

Now walk over the bridge together with other creepy shadows fellow tourists.

Once safely arrived in Switzerland…

…consider your possibilities.

You can either look over to Vaduz castle (remember, it’s full of living princes waiting for you to marry all of them)…

…or admire the Swiss flora…

…and fauna.

Or you can just take a lazy bike ride along the river.

This is also the place where, after a long, exhausting but fruitful career as a Swiss investment banker, you can finally retire and live for your hobbies.

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