Monthly Archives: April 2025

Apr11

Partaking at the Prince’s Vineyard

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Partaking at the Prince’s Vineyard
Partaking at the Prince’s Vineyard

Liechtenstein’s welcome guide recommended the Torkel Restaurant so emphatically that I spoiled myself with another multi-course affair.

This time, I booked ahead and arrived early enough that twilight had yet to darken the Alps. Floor to ceiling windows gifted me a front row seat to the majesty on display.

The venue hosting this fine establishment once pressed the wines for their prince, and his vines continue to flourish there. They certainly gave me the royal treatment.

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Apr8

The Heights of Tirano

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The Heights of Tirano
The Heights of Tirano

With a few hours to spare after my visit to the Basilica, I spotted a pair of travelers toiling up the mountainside. I determined to track the same path skyward, towards the minute stony structure perched up there in the hills.

The journey delighted at least as much as the destination: over a sprawling river by bridge, threading my way through vineyards, and emerging at last into the sparkling air.

The nearer I advanced, the more the stony church in the sky grew in size — while down below the Basilica shrank.

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Apr7

Touring Tirano

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Touring Tirano
Touring Tirano

A modest town in the shadow of the Alps: Tirano attracts visitors, one must admit, mainly because there the Bernina Express terminates.

An afternoon spent exploring the surrounds did not disappoint, however. One main restaurant manfully acts as the tourism center: steps from the train station, it promises hot meals prepared fast all day (“no break in the afternoon!” – a marketing strategy revealing of the local customs), plus luggage storage and, naturally, wi-fi.

I dropped off my backpack and turned my steps towards the town’s true attraction: la Basilica Madonna di Tirano, a church founded more than half a millennium ago.

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Apr5

Morning in Milan

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Morning in Milan
Morning in Milan

You must see the Castello, the hotel receptionist said, shaking his head sorrowfully. You can’t come to Milan without seeing the Castello.

The cultural contrast after crossing the Alps struck me forcefully at moments like this. In Liechtenstein’s little corner between Switzerland and Austria, a restaurant dinner cost triple (10 EUR, say, for a plate of pasta in Tirano — 30 CHF if you were lucky at a sit-down restaurant in Liechtenstein). On the other hand, the sun-swept cities of Italy couldn’t quite match, it must be admitted, that same sparkle of care and cleanliness.

Above all, the German-speaking staff had regarded me with polite distance, making themselves more invisible than not. In Milan, my newfound friend fetched out a map and planned my itinerary, suggesting enough sites to occupy me for several days.

The next morning, after I tore myself away from Il Duomo, I went to see the Castello.

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Apr4

Milan’s Marvel

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Milan’s Marvel
Milan’s Marvel

The Bernina Express deposited me in northern Italy, where a bevy of airports offered flights back to London.

Some internet sleuthing decided me on Milan, a city too glorious for the meagre half day my itinerary afforded it — but too marvelous to pass up the chance of visiting either, however brief.

I determined to brush off my Italian and attend an early mass at the Duomo, Milan’s crown jewel: a Gothic cathedral of dazzling proportions.

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Apr1

Hiking to Triesenberg

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Hiking to Triesenberg
Hiking to Triesenberg

Yes, I thought to myself, gazing from rows of wooden-sided homes to the sheer blue drop below. This is where I would retire.

The tourism office had patiently instructed me the day before in the route for a morning hike.

I would tackle a fraction of the marked trail, which spanned the length of the country, for the intrepid and committed. My jaunt would cover a single leg, from the town center up into the mountains.

Forests, views, something of everything, he promised me.

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