Unique Places in Vaduz

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With a population of more than 5.500 people, Schaan is Liechtenstein's biggest town and its industrial centre. The main sights of the town include:

The Chapel of St. Mary of Consolation on Dux which was built in the 18th century and has a largely original baroque interior.

The town centre is dominated by the St. Laurentius New Parish Church which was consecrated on the 05. October1893. It is is a natural stone building in neo-Gothic style.

Schaan is located just north of Vaduz, adjacent to the town border. You can take a bus to get there (10 mins) but you can even walk along the
main street or some side streets to Schaan (30 mins).

Website: http://www.schaan.li/

Planken, one of the favorites, it is a village of 300 inhabitants
in the north-central section of the country. Like Triesenberg,
it is a Walser village located on a plateau, this one overlooking
farmlands in the Rhine Valley plain.

Saint Nicolas visits the kids early here......extract from the village website
Sorry only in German..

Donnerstag, 3. Nov 2005
Besuch des St. Nikolaus
Die PfadfinderInnen Schaan/Planken organisieren wie jedes
Jahr den Besuch des St. Nikolaus in Schaan und Planken.
Wenn die Tage k?rzer und die N?chte k?lter werden, wenn
die frische Luft nach Mandarinen, N?ssen und feinem Geb?ck zu
duften beginnt, dann ist es bald wieder soweit, der St. Nikolaus
kommt nach Schaan und Planken.
Die PfadfinderInnen w?rden sich freuen, auch dieses Jahr wieder
am 4.,5. und 6. Dezember in Schaan oder in Planken als St. Nikolaus
bei Ihnen in die gute Stube einkehren zu k?nnen.

Auf Ihre telefonische Anmeldung unter Tel. 232 36 45 freuen wir uns schon heute.

Cb
The following account is by an American woman who spent
some time travelling around the area.

One evening we noticed candles and flowers and pictures of saints appearing
on doors and window sills of Triesenberg's houses. Throughout the village,
outdoor altars were set up and large banners were hung.

The next day - June 10 - turned out to be Corpus Christi Day, a major religious
feast day in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. It also was a national
public holiday and most businesses were closed.

Our hotel proprietress encouraged us to participate in the day's events,
which began with a Mass in the parish church. Folk groups arrived in costume,
and children who recently had celebrated their first communion came specially
dressed.

Following the Mass, a long procession of communicants wound through the village,
with four members of the parish carrying a canopy under which priests carried
the Holy Sacrament. At several outdoor altars the procession stopped for prayer.

After circling the main part of the village, the procession returned to the church, where it
broke up.

Villagers spent much of the rest of the day in the town square and in restaurants visiting
and listening to local music groups.

Ms. Buhler had told us that baskets of bread would be brought to the square and everyone
could take a loaf. The bread was called "Mutschli" and was slightly sweet, with a sprinkling of raisins. We were told it is made only in Triesenberg and only once a year, on this day.
Clearly, children in particular consider the bread very special.

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At 2,600 feet and nestled on a west-facing plateau, Triesenberg was settled
in the 13th century by emigrants known as Walsers from what is now the
Swiss canton of Valais. The local German dialect reflects this history,
as do particular village customs.

Triesenberg is justly proud of its local museum that displays, among other items,
artifacts of Walser farming history. The museum offers an impressive 20-minute sound/slide show in a choice of languages, including English.

Although we had not known about the village's Walser history, we were especially
interested because of having spent time in the small Swiss Walser village of Riederalp
(ITN, "Day-hiking from Three Swiss Villages," Jan. |93, pg. 5). Similarities between the two
villages were immediately obvious.

We decided to skip the Art Museum, since I had just been to the Kunsthaus in Zurich, and instead took the 30 minute bus ride to Malbun, which is the end of the road... fun to say that you've been to the end of the road. Malbun is a ski area with options for snowboarding, ice skating outside (but there were kids playing hockey), and all sorts of other winter stuff that I don't know about because I am from Louisiana. The bus ride was amazing. I also learned why ski pants are important winter wear.

Vaduz is famous for its wine yards as well. If youa re driving on the main road from Austria to Liechtenstein then the wine yards would come on the left hand side. Its somehting really beautiful as well and something must see ;-)