i had one final day with a car before leaving italy, and liechtenstein was was a nearby country i had never been to, so of course it beckoned irresistibly! liechtenstein is a doubly land-locked micronation nestled between switzerland and austria. i drove through switzerland to get there, which ultimately took significantly longer than expected as the road was narrow and it was heavily snowing in the high mountain passes. one can buy a swiss motorway vignette for a rental car allowing travel on swiss expressways which would have made the journey much faster, but i decided i didn’t want to spend the money just for one day. some amazing scenery on the long drive though! i finally got to liechtenstein at about 4pm and explored the capital of vaduz a little. it is a fascinating principality which has impressively managed to maintain its independence for many centuries. there is a national castle perched on the mountain where the royal family still lives, and hosts annual parties for local graduating high school seniors, etc. there is also a famous covered bridge connecting the country to switzerland.
after all that driving i needed some r&r, so i went to the nearby swiss town of bad ragaz to experience their amazing thermal spa pools called termino. the admission is a bit pricey, but worth every cent. there is an indoor and outdoor thermal pool with jets and fountains, and it was raining outside and it was glorious.
i then went even further into the spa and found an amazing outdoor sauna center, with about ten different types of saunas and steam rooms surrounded an idyllic central courtyard, each varying in heat and humidity levels. all participants were required to be naked; when initially i was unaware of this rule i was yelled at in german by a staff member until i complied. every hour on the hour there was a german aufguss sauna ritual! ritual goers including me silently congregated in the sauna at the correct time, claiming our spot. the sauna rock heater was then turned to maximum, and german deep house music blasted through the speakers as a bodybuilder sauna master entered the room, wearing only a small towel (to differentiate him from the rest of us). as the german deep house tunes intensified, he ceremonially crushed essential oil-soaked ice onto the central sauna rocks, which immediately turned to hot steam and infused the room with scents of eucalyptus, mint and licorice in succession. after each new essence, he moved about the room whipping a towel in the air, blowing hot air and scent onto skin. each lasted about 20 minutes, and at the end there was a rush for the ice-cold outdoor showers because everyone was so close to passing out from the heat and the epicness. i went to a few of these, and it was amazing!