Gutenberg Castle

Today was a day for picking strawberries. Amanda learned from some of the school moms last month that there is a local farm in Buchs where you can go pick strawberries and it sounded like a great idea for a slow Saturday in July. So we loaded the crew into the car, along with our favorite berry picking baskets and headed for the country side. Which in a place like the Rhein Valley was a short 10 minute drive away.

We arrived at the farm to zero fan fare and as we drove up to the buildings noticed that no one was around. This didn't feel right so Amanda hopped onto their website and discovered that the previous week had been so good that they had run out of ripe berries to pick. And disappointed though we were, the weather was nice and we were already out of the house and there are still a few local places we haven't been to yet.

So today became a day for princesses! Gutenberg Castle overlooks the city of Balzers in southern Liechtenstein.

At the base of the hill is a play ground and the local church. I'll let you guess based on the pictures what the girls decided to visit first.

The church felt very imposing despite serving a population of fewer than 5,000 people. With it's thick stone walls and stately appearance you could be forgiven for thinking it's actually a fort from up close.

And with the playground and church explored it was time to go up the hill.

We arrived at the top a little winded and ready to explore.

But discovered that the main castle is closed to tours and only a few of the other buildings on the site can be seen by appointment only. There was a small information board that posted a few interesting facts about the castle such as:

• The first written mention is from 1263 when it belonged to the Barons of Frauenberg.
• It became a possession of the Habsburg empire in 1314 and remained in the royal families possession for more than 500 years.
• It was purchased by the municipality of Balzers in 1824 and has since passed between property of the principality and private ownership a couple times with the last sale occurring in 1979 when it passed back into the hands of the state.

While Amanda and I were busy brushing up on our Balzers history the courtyard was open and free to roam so the girls ran around the grounds for a bit and we got some pictures of the family with the a view of the village in below

Satisfied that we'd seen all there was to see we started back down the 60 meter high hill and paused for a few photos on the way.

And apparently we wore someone out ...

Oh and by the way, somewhere along the way Olivia managed to find a strawberry.