Our European Adventure: Vaduz Forest Adventure

We have officially become a hiking family. I realized this designation today. We are nearing the end of a two week fall break and we took two great trips and had some good family down time around the house, but this morning Charlotte woke up and told me that we hadn't been hiking in "ages" and we needed to go today. A quick scramble for nearby trails we hadn't visited yet revealed the Forest Adventure Trail in Vaduz (the capital city of Liechtenstein).

It's a big loop (6.2 kilometers / 3.9 miles) and though it does not have games and such for the kids along the way like many other hikes we do, it does start with a woodpecker carving ... and we had to become woodpeckers too...

It's interesting to see how far we've come in our 2 1/2 years of hiking. This trail would have made me so nervous when we first moved here with its hills, slick leaves and little-to-no guardrails on the side of the path. But the girls have proved their ability to walk single file when needed and listen to instructions (occasionally); and there is a big difference between a 4-year old and 18-month old and a 7-year old and an almost 4-year old. That being said, I still kept really close to make sure everyone navigated the tree roots, rocks, leaves & pine cones carefully.

Newly added to the trail is long cantilevered viewing platform with a magnificent panoramic view of the Rhine Valley. The info sign said the platform was made of 15 Vaduz larches taken from the surrounding forest. I was grateful it was also made of concrete and metal beams.

We continued on the trail, or should I say up the trail.

That uphill was UPHILL!

We happened upon the ruins of Schalun Castle. After the hike, I tried to do some research on the origin and purpose of the castle, but learned there is no information about the castle itself from the time of it's building, but in 1237 knight Ulrich von Schalun was named as a witness to a donation from another land owning family to his. I guess that's when he got to name it. Fast forwarding a bit, in 1939, the first excavations took place inside the now ruins of the castle. On the basis of an analysis of findings, it can be assumed that Schalun was built at the end of the 12th century at the latest and expanded in the 13th century with the construction of further walls. The sparse finds also indicate that the castle was not inhabited when it fell into disrepair. On the basis of burn marks, the castle was probably subsequently burned down.