Switzerland & Liechtenstein: Journey to the beginning | 2022

<b>Grüezi!</b> We wanted to leave our car near lake Constance. But nobody answered our call after a week, so we left it closer to the border.

We are adding the Principality of <b>Liechtenstein</b> as the 15<sup>th</sup> to our list of countries we cycled in. And for those that don't know us: we are dad Robert & son Aleks. We ride our bikes around.

And after an hour we are already in <b>Switzerland</b>. Time to take out our veeery thick wallet with Swiss francs.

We wanted to ride this tour in 2020, but we had to reschedule it due to the pandemic.

<b>Chur</b> is known as the oldest town in Switzerland, but we didn’t even notice that.

There are (un)written rules on every <i>turn</i>, because they follow them. That's why it's one of the cleanest countries in the world.

<b>Rhine Gorge</b>. It took us 3 days to reach the source of the river that we were riding along.

There is lots of (free) water available everywhere.

<b>Tujetsch</b>. Our tent is supposed to be olive green. It's about time I upgrade my phone with its awful camera.

Aleks corrected the bad impression with his phone when he woke up.

Before construction starts they have to lay out a <i>wire frame model</i> of the building, even skyscrapers so that neighbours can better visualise it.

Even though it is permitted to fly your drone, ours didn’t want to take off and capture the winding road.

We reached the <b>Oberalp Pass</b> (2.044 m) with ease.

Prices in Switzerland are a <i>bit</i> higher. Add some francs to the tasty prices above and you'll get the hungry prices in euros.

We caught the wifi signal at the train station and updated the drone's remote.

The refreshed drone is back where it belongs, and we are relaxingly gravitating down.

<b>Schöllenen Gorge & the Devil's Bridge</b>. There used to be 3 bridges. The 1<sup>st</sup> one was built in 1230 and it's now <i>hidden</i> in the foundation of the lower bridge.

We are getting tired of all these perfect postcard views.

He always wanted a Swiss army knife. We took our time and bought one from the factory Store. They even engraved his initial.

He is clearly obsessed with shoes. Something similar happened to us years ago when a fox took our breakfast that was outside of our tent.

The left (analog) photo will still be preserved after 50 years as the right (digital) one probably won’t be.

We took the first mountain train in the morning to the top. It also delivers packages from online stores to highlanders and foodstuff to restaurants.

I bought a data plan with 500 MB and 500 minutes for 20 €. If I hadn’t done the I would have paid more than 6.000 € at the regular roaming prices.

The fastest steamboat in the world took us to the other side of <b>Lake Lucerne</b>. It was built in 1913.

It can reach speeds up to 31 km/h. Strangely the spinning pistons are exposed to passengers.

Switzerland has 8.5 million inhabitants, 25 % of which are foreigners. There are 3 official languages: German, French and Italian. The 4th national language is Romansh.

We've never had so many options in one place in our extensive cycling career.

<b>Zug</b> is a small but pleasant city with 30,000 inhabitants. It is considered a tax haven, where 12,000 companies, including many multinationals, have their headquarters.

I'm back home. I spent my childhood years in this city.

At first glance, you don't even realize that you are on one of the most expensive avenues in the world. But when you get closer to the shop windows, you notice watches for 50,000 € and more.

I wouldn’t like to live here anymore. I am THANKFUL to my loving mother and father for those wonderful years. They are transforming the street that I grew up on into a multi-level highway. Brrr!

I am shocked that the kindergarten still has the same windows, walls and roof. It just looks sad.

Even though my parents are Slovenian, I talked to them in Swiss German, which I was more used to.

I only learned mother tongue when we moved back to Slovenia, where I continued with primary school.

I continued learning German after moving with watching TV shows, visiting German speaking countries and taking German lessons.

The captain took us to my birthplace which I'm visiting only for the 2<sup>nd</sup> time in my life.

My 1st visit was when I was born in this hospital near Zürich.

Even if you see a FULL sign that doesn’t necessarily mean you won't be able to sleep in it. There's (almost) always a place for a small tent and 2 bikes.

We split the tour into shorter daily stages. We had enough time to see my nostalgic places. Here we post only some.

Since I was 1 year old a married couple took care of me for longer periods of time. I called them m)<b>Ama</b> and p)<b>Apa</b>. Even when I was living in Slovenia, they often invited me on a long holiday. They lived in this village in a typical Swiss wooden house.

Thanks to Regula and Noldi that I could show my son this homestead. Years ago, the house on the right photo was demolished and a new one was bult. The well that we bathed in is still working. Just a few meters away there is a query where we climbed. Always in action. Beautiful memories.

Sadly, Apa died a few months ago. Ama did 25 years ago.

We are descending to our starting point along the Rhine River.

Once we got all of the Swiss goodies on our shopping list we paid 1,700 € … in total over 9 days.

We took a trip to canton <b>Appenzell</b> with our car. Moving of livestock from the mountains to lowland is always a festive experience for the locals.

On the 1<sup>st</sup> of August at the Swiss national holiday, they reveal the largest Swiss flag in the world, measuring 80 x 80 m, over this cliff.

We couldn't admire the peak in the previous picture, but it revealed itself on our way back down into the valley.

We are concluding this nostalgic <i>Journey to the beginning</i> and return to Slovenia full of emotions.

Other bicycle tours

Exploring the sights of Copenhagen, Malmö and the Øresund strait with bikes.

Copenhagen (DK) ~ Øresund ~ Malmö (S)

80/31 km | September 2023

Cycling along the Neckar, Main and Rhine River.

Germany: Neckar ~ Main ~ Rhine | Stuttgart > Frankfurt > Cologne

575/555 km | June 2023

With bike from Salzburg over Sölk Pass to Ljubljana

Austria | Slovenia: Salzburg ~ Sölk Pass ~ Seeberg ~ Ljubljana

426 km | August 2022

Slovenia: With bikes from East to West

Slovenia: from East to West

784 km | June + August 2021

Carinthia | Upper Carniola

Austria | Slovenia: Faak . Pyramidenkogel . Klagenfurt Seeberg . Ljubljana

180 km | September 2020

With bikes around Slovenia

Slovenia: for everyone

780 km | June~July 2020

Berchtesgaden

Germany | Bavaria: Berchtesgaden

164 km | September 2019

Lake Millstatt ~ Lake Ossiach ~ Lake Wörth ~ Lake Faak

Austria: Lake Millstatt ~
Lake Ossiach ~ Lake Wörth ~ Lake Faak

221 km | August 2019

Netherlands, Belgium, Germany

Amsterdam ~ Haag ~ Rotterdam ~ Antwerp ~ Cologne

594 km | June 2019

Salzburg, Chiemsee, Inn, Passau, Danube, Traunsee

Salzburg ~ Chiemsee ~ Inn ~ Passau ~ Danube ~ Traunsee

543 km | September 2018

Weissensee

Austria: Weissensee

142 km | August 2018

Prague, Czech Republic

Czech Republic: Lipno Lake ~ Moldau ~ Prague ~ Elbe

510 km | June 2018

Milano ~ St. Moritz ~ Innsbruck

Italy | Switzerland | Austria: Milano ~ St. Moritz ~ Innsbruck

498 km | June 2018

Lake Neusiedl ~ Vienna (Wien) ~ Bratislava

Austria | Hungary | Slovakia: Lake Neusiedl ~ Vienna ~ Bratislava

358 km | September 2017

Bozen ~ Stelvio Pass ~ Lake Como ~ Lake Garda

Italy:
Bolzano ~ Stelvio Pass ~ Lake Como ~ Lake Garda

405 km | June 2017

Spring of the river Drau ~ Brenner Pass ~ Innsbruck ~ Munich

Spring of the river Drau ~ Brenner Pass ~ Innsbruck ~ Munich

400 km | June 2017

Lake Balaton, Hungary

Hungary:
Lake Balaton

244 km | September 2016

Venice ~ San Marino ~ Rimini

Italy:
Venice ~ San Marino ~ Rimini

377 km | June 2016

Spring of the river Drau ~ Cortina d'Ampezzo ~ Venice

Italy: Spring of the river Drau ~ Cortina d'Ampezzo ~ Venice

304 km | June 2016

South Tyrol ~ Lake Garda ~ Venice

Italy:
South Tyrol ~ Lake Garda ~ Venice

495 km | September 2015

Rhein ~ Lake Constance (Bodensee)

Austria | Germany | Switzerland:
Rhine ~ Lake Constance

328 km | June 2015

Parenzana

Slovenia | Croatia:
Parenzana

225 km | June 2015

Tour along the river Mur Austria

Austria | Slovenia:
Tour along the river Mur

320 km | June 2014

Salzburg ~ Ljubljana

Austria | Italy | Slovenia: Salzburg ~ Ljubljana

379 km | September 2013

Alpe Adria cycle path

Slovenia | Italy:
Alpe Adria cycle path

296 km | June 2013

Murska Sobota ~ Varaždin ~ Ptuj

Slovenia | Croatia:
Murska Sobota ~ Varaždin ~ Ptuj

165 km | June 2012

Venice ~ Isola

Italy | Slovenia:
Venice ~ Isola

370 km | June 2012

Drau cycle path ~ Drauradweg

Drau cycle path

609 km | September 2010