What are the odds for someone to randomly end up in the 6th smallest country in the world on its Independence Day? 1 in 365. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I was visiting some good friends in Zurich and had a half day off while they were working. They had another friend staying over at the same time. He lived in Austria and was driving back to Innsbruck that day. I was telling him about my plans to travel the world and he offered to drive me to Innsbruck so I could discover a new country. I promptly took to Google Maps, but was disappointed to find out it was four hours away. Too long for me to go and come back that day, BUT, we find this tiny little country which I had maybe heard of once before that just happened to be exactly on the way to Innsbruck and was only an hour away. Bingo!

The drive there was super scenic. (Note to self: do another road trip in the region someday in the future.)

We got there and I instantly notice flags all over the place.  I had no idea it was Independence Day and convinced myself that it was normal for the capital city Vaduz to be this patriotic with only 5000 residents in total.

I say goodbye to my new German friend and start walking around the city. It feels like they’re setting up for some sort of festival. I was expecting to be walking around alone, but the main street was really busy, especially given their population size. I figured it must be a lively city.

TripAdvisor tells me that the main thing  to do is the castle so I ask if there’s a bus to it and the lady politely laughs at me and tells me that I have to walk uphill to get there. She explains that it will be busy because it’s Independence Day and that they will be serving free cocktails and sandwiches up there. Cool!

I walk around the city and learn some interesting facts about the country/capital:

• Sixth smallest country in the world.
• The capital Vaduz has a population of 5,270. I guess you really get to know your neighbors well.
• Currently the 2nd highest GDP per capita in the world with each resident accounting for $89,000+ every year.
• Second lowest corporate tax rate in Europe at 12.5%. Don’t fall asleep on me, I’m done with the numbers.
• World’s leading manufacturer of fake teeth. I hope it’s not because of the pastries I was just eating…
• Once a year, all the residents are invited to a party in a castle. This year it’s going to be everyone + me.

Walking around some more, I come across a couple of shops and notice some odd things that stood out.

Somehow Pinot noir is not a red grape in Lichtenstein

There’s a whole 100 page guide book on the tiny country?

And they get so many Chinese tourists that there are signs in Chinese!??

I start the hike up to the castle. The busted knee and elbow are killing me. I break a sweat 2.3 seconds into it. Man I really need to get back to the gym, urgently.

The view starts looking good.

The higher up I go the better the view gets. Here’s the whole country in one shot. OK, I exaggerate.

I finally get up there and the Prince, literally 10 steps away from me, was giving a speech.

Once the speech ends, I start to follow the crowd for the drinks and sandwiches.

It’s a gorgeous day and the castle is quite stunning.

I meet the cutest little Lichie girl (I know, I just made that up).

As I head back down I see an LGBT 🏳️‍🌈. The booth was offering free delicious deserts. I get together with the group around the table and asked them how the gay community was in Vaduz and they replied “this is the gay community!”

It got me thinking that it really is a tough life for gays who don’t live in a big city. On the plus side though maybe they learn to be less picky with fewer options?

I continue roaming around the food and music festival aimlessly and finally come to this bronze statue thinking of the expression “it ain’t over till the fat lady sings”. She never did sing, but it was time for me to head back and so I hopped on the bus (also free that day) that would take me to train to get back.

I didn’t get to go to Gutenberg Castle, but luckily I got to see it one the way back to the train station.

Cost of the entire trip? One train ticket from Lichtenstein to Zurich. Thank you for the amazing hospitality Lichtenstein. Sometimes size doesn’t matter.