Swiss Beauties

[selenak]

Yours truly spent three days in Switzerland over the weekend, then hastened back to Germany. It wasn't a leisure trip, but I did see plenty of the region I was in, which was the Tessin, a part of Switzerland where the Italian language dominates, around the Lago Maggiore. Which is breathtakingly beautiful. Hence, pictures.





Before I get to more lake pictures, have some Swiss villages first. Not for nothing is one part of this region called the Centovalli, the valley of a thousand valleys. They mine granite there, and that's what most of the houses are made of. A typical village is nestled in the mountains like this one in the Valle Verzasca:



Or this one, Berzona.



It's where Swiss writer Max Frisch lived and died, and where German writer Alfred Andersch is buried; I read some of their works at school, and while today, only nine people live in the village in the winter, while it's occupied by a lot more people in the summer, I could totally see their point.












The cemetery, where Andersch lies (Frisch was cremated):



One typical for Tessin element are the grotti. A grotto is basically a summer-only pub at a beautiful scenic location where you can eat heavy food. Like this one:



Then there's the village Mogno. Where a snow avalanche went down and destroyed the old church. The new one was build by architect Mario Botta, and inside is spectacularly beautiful. The outside, though, can be debated. I mean:








Mogno also has its share of traditional granite houses (apparantly avalanche immune):



and this beauty of an old mill:



Another Grotto offers this view, at Foroglio near Sognono:





Sognono is lived in throughout the year, and not just by nine people, but cars are forbidden, so you can stroll through these streets:











Have a look back at Sognono:



En route, you pass the Ponte dei Salti in Lavertezzo:



Now, on to the Laggo Maggiore. I was staying at Ascona, where the view of the Lago is thusly:



This is Ascona:



That's San Nazarro over there:



Locarno, which you might know when you're fond of film festivals:





The opening of the Locarno festival usually takes place on this Piazza:



And the streets are very Italian, too:



The Castello. Ruled at different centuries by the Visconti and by the Sforza:





San Christoforo, outside:





And inside:




Pilgrim's church from below:



And above:




If you take the cable car (anathema to a certain someone of orange colour) and go to Cardada above Locarno, you get these views of the lake:





But you know, the Lago Maggiore isn't the only game in town, err, region. There's also the Lago di Lugano:



At Montagnolo on the Lago Lugano, writer Hermann Hesse lies buried, in this cemetary:






But Hesse's grave aside, Montagnolo is overcrowded. This Lago is best viewed from Morcote, to be precise from the Parco Scherer, the former owner of which built it with "Follies", i.e. mini editions of famous buildings the world over. That's the Parco from the street view:




And thus from inside:















Now you can't top that, and I shan't try. Thus I leave you with a picture from the Lago Maggiore on Sunday evening, when I took my leave of it:

Comments

[wendelah1]

These are so beautiful.

[selenak]

I was lucky to see this landscape, and am glad to share.

[ratcreature]

Wow. Looks like the region reached a picturesque maximum.

[selenak]

It's ridiculously beautiful.

[thawrecka]

Absolutely gorgeous.

[selenak]

*beams*

[issenllo]

Those are lovely, especially the mountains. I love the ones with mountains.

[selenak]

They're drop dead gorgeous mountains, to be sure. :)

[frelling_tralk]

Beautiful :)

[selenak]

*beams*

[lokifan]

Beautiful! That first photo is amazing. I love the follies too :) This makes me miss Geneva and its environs.