Liechtenstein
The least known country in Europe
By Chris Stefanopoulos
Political geography:
Liechtenstein is a German-speaking microstate with a population that is estimated at 38.000 people and it is the sixth smallest country in the world. Liechtenstein is located between Austria and Switzerland, its size is about 162 square kilometers and only 25 kilometers long and 9, 4 kilometers wide. It is also one of the two doubly landlocked nations in the world, the other one being Uzbekistan. The capital is Vaduz with a population of 5.200 people and it is the second largest city of the country, the first one being Schaan with approximately 500 more people.
Places of interest:
The prince’s castle in Vaduz:
Malbun, with its famous ski resort:
The main square:
The national museum:
The postage stump museum:
Schatzkammer treasure chamber:
The Kunst museum:
The Landtag, the parliament building:
Balzer gothic castle:
History:
- At first there were the two small Holy Roman Empire earldoms Vaduz and Schellenberg
- At 1712 Josef Johann Adam Von Liechtenstein he purchases both of them, hence joining the two together and creating the country.
- At the Napoleonic wars napoleon decides not to invade due to the well-respected military commander and prince Johann I Joseph and the country remains independent.
- At Astro Prussian war Liechtenstein is able to avoid any losses.
- At ww2 Hitler decided not to invade due to the insignificant size of the country
“Friend zone’’ of Liechtenstein:
Liechtenstein is generally neutral and it gets along with everyone, especially it’s German-speaking cousins Germany, Austria and in particular Switzerland. Switzerland is considered Liechtenstein’s best friend and it’s acting like the protector of it.
Facts for visitors:
- Liechtenstein has one of the biggest GDP per capita in the world.
- Liechtenstein is actually a monarchy.
- They use the Swiss franc as their currency.
- They use the type J plug outlet.
- They drive in the right side of the road.
- They have extremely rich prices literally for everything.
- They have very low criminality.
Liechtenstein is a wonderful place in the Alps and it has some amazing features that everybody must see once in their life.
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