Only slightly larger than Manhattan
island,
Liechtenstein is the
world's fourth-smallest country.
It's a quiet, unassuming place,
ruled over by His Serene Highness
Prince Hans Adam II, and has made a
mint from nursing some Sfr90 billion
in its numbered bank accounts, a
living that has inevitably laid it
open to accusations of dubious
practice. Money-laundering aside,
the main reason to visit is
inevitably the novelty value. You
have to feel sorry for little
VADUZ
, labouring under the weight of
being capital of a historical
oddity: the tiny town bulges with
glass-plated banks and squadrons of
whistle-stop visitors aimless with
anticlimax. Central hub is the post
office, where all buses stop, midway
between the two parallel main
streets, Äulestrasse and
pedestrianized Städtle. Facing it
is the sleek new
Kunstmuseum
(Tues-Sun 10am-5pm, Thurs until 8pm;
Sfr5;
www.kunstmuseum.li ),
holding the world-famous private
art
collection inherited - and added to
- by the prince, which includes
exquisite works by Rubens, Rembrandt
and others. Perched picturesquely on
the forested hillside above the town
is the prince's restored
sixteenth-century
castle (no
public access). If you have some
time to spare, catch bus #10 to
Liechtenstein's sole mountain resort
of
MALBUN , a small,
blissfully quiet retreat up at
1602m.
