While I was in the bathroom

While I was in the bathroom, Kat and Laurel hatched a plan for us to spend the day in Liechtenstein! Kat had originally thought it would be nice to walk across a country and, understandably had considered Liechtenstein a top contender. She was chatting to Laurel about it and Laurel kindly offered us her car for the next day instead!

What a present!  A car to have to independence to travel around Switzerland and Liechtenstein for the day!  We set out (not too early) for Vaduz, a simple 2 hour drive from Laurel's at Kilchberg only stopping to pick up our train tickets to Innsbruck for the next day. Our hastily manufactured plan was mainly focused on doing a walk along the "Prince's Way", above the Liechtenstein Castle.  First we stopped off for a map and a drink, wandering the street in Vaduz and poking around to learn a very little bit about the place.  I learned more than I did from watching The Knight's Tale but I do not think I am likely to win any history awards for this region of the world.

Not enough castles have views these days

Kat loved this statue in town

I wanted to understand how Liechtenstein could become such a wealthy independent nation (with unemployment as low as 1.5% in 2007) with a parliament and a popular monarchy that still holds a lot of power.  The key to the wealth is obviously low corporate taxes, with more corporations registered there than there are citizens.  But I am not sure how they really became or developed their independence from the nations around.  Of course, it turns out that it is "kind of complicated".  From what I understand, when Napolean "took over" the Holy Roman Empire, he banished many of the pre-existing structures.  And then, when Napoleon was deposed, the vaccuum left behind allowed Liechtenstein's monarchy to do some clever politicking, to set itself up first as part of Austria-Hungary and then independently but linked with Switzerland.  Really, it would just be better if you read the wiki, and if you really want to understand it, probably go and find an better source of information!

It was a beautiful sunny day, and we were counting our blessings as we wove Laurel's car up the mountain road to Geifels, the start of the Fürstensteig (The Princes' Way) walk. It was great how quickly we left Vaduz behind on the small winding road, only once having to back downhill to let a fat bus through.  The walk was cold in the shade and toasty in the sun, once we cleared above the treeline, we could see over the Rhine Valley where Vaduz sits.  It was fresh and beautiful up there and another throwback to Nepal where sometimes we had to grab onto a cable while walking/scaling across a rocky area.

We didn't make it all the way to the Three Sisters but did enjoy sitting up in the clean mountain air, admiring the tiny country in front of us.  Fun fact: a survey in 2006 using updated technology found that Liechenstein's borders are actually 1.9km longer than previously thought!

Probably the best outcome from any bathroom trip I've made.

Views on the way up

Channeling my inner donkey whisperer

Best view from a car park since the Bernina express (which was less than 3 days before!) 

We were not crushed by falling rocks

Not bad 'eh?

Looking out

Top of the world!

Spot the Kat

Looking down

Bliss

What a walk!

Still with an eye out for rocks above

A final look back at Vaduz as we left

We could even take them with us in the car

County Limerick and County Clare - Ireland Roadtrip Part 5

Adare
From Killarney we drove north into County Limerick, stopping in the pretty village of Adare for lunch. Here, I had one of the best salads of the trip: goats cheese and walnut! 

Whilst in Adare we walked through the gardens, took a peek into the monastery and learnt about the history of the area at the town's heritage exhibition. We also admired the thatched roof houses. One of the houses, unfortunately, had experienced a rather damaging fire. Probably quite a hazard of the housing style, as humorously pointed out by a book left in that very houses' window!

Thatched house, Adare

Someone has a sense of humour!

Sad house, Adare

Fire hazard but beautiful

Still room for the coloured houses, Adare

Whilst in town Rob also did some washing up at the old communal laundry spot

Limerick
Ireland does not have a shortage of castles. After having waved at Desmond castle on the way out of Adare, before we knew it the river Shannon ran along side us and King John's Castle loomed over us. Rob had a terrible battle with hiccups as we purchased our tickets, resulting in him drinking a glass of water upside down outside the castle doors. Just as the receptionist has predicted: it worked!

There was a lot to see at the castle because although the structure itself was built in 1200 and is extremely well preserved, the site actually dates back to Viking times. The castle had several exhibitions on Limerick's history. I was quite interested in hearing about the Great Siege of 1642 that devastated the town and castle. All our visits to castles and fortresses have made me think a lot about castle warfare. It just seems like no matter how good your defensive forces are, in the end you are usually, in one way or another, a sitting duck. It would be such a frightening experience to say the least. Of course, I always picture the great battles in Game of Thrones whenever I think about these things.

King John's Castle

There were some great views over the river and town from the castle. I even spotted some kids in zorb balls...something I haven't tried and can't quite decide if I would love or hate. Let's put that decision on the back burner!

A view over Limerick country (and county I guess)

To County Clare!
Post castle adventure we drove to Ennistimon where we would be spending two nights. Although we would not be spending a great deal of time in the town itself, Ennistimon was a charming little town. Our Airbnb host, John, was very welcoming and we had a chat with him over tea; about being an Airbnb host, house prices and Ireland's economy. In a lot of ways Airbnb (and couch surfing) really have the potential to add so much to a trip. We are yet to have a negative experience. (More on Airbnb and its advantages in posts to come!)

Cliffs of Moher
The Cliffs of Moher were a part of Ireland we were most excited about visiting. The morning greeted us with fog...lots of fog:

The foggy serial part 2

Once at the cliffs the lady at the ticket booth checked we wanted to go in, "Before you buy tickets, you know you can't see anything right?" We took the risk and were thrilled that after some time in the visitor's centre, the fog had moved on!

Mum and me and the beautiful cliffs

The Cliffs of Moher are one of those places that leave you feeling so insignificant. The huge scaling walls and waves crashing below are awesome, in the true sense of the word. The cliffs stretch for 8 kilometres and are 214 metres at their highest point. They certainly were a spectacular sight. 

Probably the human visit to this particular tourist attraction has the aliens laughing. On the surface us humans are paying to park our cars and stand gawking at one section of cliffs, when we could travel a bit further down coast without all the hassles. 

I was pretty annoyed at one thing on our visit:

A rant
The visitors centre was built into the hillside to be environmentally sensitive in its use of energy and to ensure it was not an eyesore. Unfortunately it seems like there are problems trying for the same thing on the cliffs themselves. There are good fences up in some spots to stop people and their footsteps from further eroding the cliffs. However, more can definitely be done in much of the area. Unless you set up proper trails and fences, people are going to go where they can to get a better photo and, in the process, erode the cliff and risk their own safety. When we were there people of all ages were struggling with the mud, puddles and lack of a proper path. I think it is a shame that more of the entrance fee does not seem to be going towards the cliffs themselves. After all, the cliffs are what people are there to see.

Rob and me at one of the better walls!

Galway
We also briefly visited Galway from Ennistimon. It was a nice walk around the harbour and a lovely day. I heard someone nearby asking their husband to quickly pull the camera out while the sun was shining! The town itself was full of atmosphere and might be somewhere I would go back to if given the opportunity. 

Galway harbour town

Buzzing street of Galway 

Donkey escapade
The last, unexpected, experience whilst in Ennistimon was when Rob and I made friends with some local donkeys. We sought out a sunset and were probably on private property when we met this little guy and his fellow donkey pals. They didn't want to leave us alone but eventually we continued on our walk to the waterfalls.

Friends forever!

Ennistimon's Cascades