Mountain Monarchies: Alpine and Pyrenean Principalities
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Andorra
Andorra is a small principality among the Pyrenees, surrounded by France and Spain. Its location should grant it some pleasing scenery, and the country's official visitor portal has an unsurprising name, Visit Andorra. It was when I first went looking that I came to realise just how year-round hillwalking is in Britain. In Andorra, it is a summer activity, with skiing dominating winter. Shopping is a year activity and there are concerns about a resulting ongoing building boom, so I hope sense prevails before it is too late. Getting there means travelling to a nearby airport or train station in either France or Spain and using the services of AndorraDirectBus or Grup Montmantell to get the rest of the way. Air Andorra and Andorra Airlines have been planning to operate flights with connections into the principality, but there is little sign of bookings being taken on either website, so using another operator might be wiser.
Lichtenstein
In many ways, the Principality of Liechtenstein reminds me of how some European countries were governed before World War I. Historically, it emerged from the Holy Roman Empire when the House of Liechtenstein acquired it and remains a largely Roman Catholic country even today. Unlike the British monarchy, the Princely House of Liechtenstein is more involved in the government of the principality, having got powers to dismiss parliament for warrantable reasons and to govern by decree in emergencies following a referendum of the people in 2003. That all sounds rather autocratic, though there also are confidence votes in the prince too, so the people of the principal have some leverage on their monarch. Being sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria does mean that it gets a share of Alpine scenery too. Of course, the official visitor information portal, Liechtenstein Tourism, has its places when sorting out what to see and do as well as where to stay.
