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Tags: peteshep Travels3SetHeading
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Ascona lake-front, near Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland...........
Next I caught a bus for a visit to Ascona. It's on the delta close to Locarno with the river between (and still Swiss Ticino). Here was pleasant lakeside setting with an immediacy and scale Locarno once had. This little town combines riviera foreshore promenade with a network of old-town shopping alleys just behind. Sheltered from cold winds, Ascona's lakeside walk is blessed with sun all day. The promenade (Piazza Motta), along a line of shading planes and bench seats terraced at the water, provides a constant strip of activity with ferries and launches, ducks, and people-showing or -watching. Parallel is the frontage of a continuous row of quality restaurants with rhythmic arcading and bright Mediterranean ochres singing above canopies and balconies.
The pedestrian boutique-network behind, courtyards, fountains, and sett-cobbled lanes, is highlighted with a number of valued historic buildings. These are integrated, and provide internal landmarks of more permanent character. Ghiriglioni Castle, Casa Serodine, S. Michele Castle, Madonna della Fontana church, Sts Peter & Paul, etc. A justifiably well-known atmosphere permeates.
Ascona was once home to fishermen and craftsmen. But the setting and life of the extended water-front square combining with the building response has long drawn the artistic. Alleys and piazzas behind reveal architecture from the medieval and Renaissance periods. Yet the ambience absorbs some modern too --- such as a minimalist glass-plane but creeper-clad restaurant in lake-side garden. No doubt over-full with the monied in summer, Ascona had a pleasant easiness.
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Tags: Peteshep Peter Sheppard PS Travel Switzerland Ascona Ticino Lake-front tessin southernmost canton Svizzera
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Copyright PS
Under roof overhang, Building 221, Ballenberg (near Brienz), Switzerland...........
In a yellow Post Bus through farmland and forest for Ballenberg. This is the Swiss Open-air Collection of traditional rural architecture and culture generously set out in appropriate nature. The 163-acre site comprises thirteen hamlets, pastures and forested areas. Each hamlet arranges buildings related to a particular canton, e.g. Bernese Midlands, Ticino, etc. We can compare the differences in tradition from one area to another all in a day's pleasant outing.
And not just architecture --- a hundred centuries-old buildings from every part of Switzerland, but many types of indigenous farm animals, crops, and so on --- all in action. Old-life procedures and events are constant so we may see methods of lime-burning, splitting shingles, charcoal firing, wood-carving, pottery, and so on. I found constant groups watching and sampling the traditional cheese-making...........
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Enlarge:
1. Simply click the upper-right diagonal arrows.
2. Further enlarge: Then press F11 on a PC, or Fullscreen. Allow re-focus.
Ballenberg :
www.ballenberg.ch/
Regional house examples at Ballenberg:
ballenberg.ch/en/Map/1
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Tags: Peteshep Peter Sheppard PS Travel Switzerland Ballenberg Traditional architecture Vernacular Architecture Copyright photo Timber Architecture Architecture Architecture and Buildings Architecture Travellers Architecture Buildings in the World Buildings/Architecture Old Wood Architecture Directory Geotagged 2003
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Copyright PS
Touët-sur-Var, (above railway), Alpes-Maritimes, SE France............
To the Alpes-Maritimes and the Var river running into the mountains from the Nice coast. I headed deep into the mountain valleys to get some photos of Touët. From below, I gasped up the slope to the old cluster shelved on the cliff-face, looking perhaps reminiscent of one of those high, layered up, Eastern monasteries. But here it was an informality of balconies and random incidents. Part-tunneling step-alleys burrowed through, and there was even a hidden central piazza. At one end (left) was the landmarking church tower, and surprisingly a flat parvis terrace. A clutter of tile roofs, unexpected archways, autumnal redenning "smoke" shrubs, and a few people doing jobs made up this masonry nest. Touët clings on as an intrigue from the past, still with life thanks to its most dramatic sense of place.
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Enlarge:
1. Simply click the upper-right diagonal arrows.
2. Further enlarge: Then press F11 on a PC, or Fullscreen. Allow re-focus.
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See also a couple of shots, from a more-recent visit, at the beginning of my Tr4Clips -A-M France set.
wikimapia
Street map:
www.lou-souliaire.fr/plan.html
wiki translated:
translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http...
Scroll down in this recent 2012 Set for more Touet:
peteshep/sets/72157630755648788/
P :-)
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Tags: Peteshep Peter Sheppard PS Travel France Alpes-Maritimes Touet-sur-Var Var river Medieval Village Vernacular Architecture Regional Architecture Traditional Architecture Sense-of-place Copyright photo Architecture Architecture and Buildings Architecture Travellers Architecture Buildings in the World Buildings/Architecture Architecture|Nature Architecture Directory French Villages Historical Villages perched village hilltop Arrière pays Arriere pays Geotagged Villages et petites villes d'Europe EU Touët Géomarquée falaise 2003
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Immaculee Conception 17C neo-classical church, old Antibes, Cote d'Azur........
Enlarge
Click the diagonal arrows upper-right; then can press F11 Fullscreen.
wikimapia
360o interactive panorama link; wait for whole download; click fullscreen and drag:
www.360cities.net/image/eglise-immaculee-conception-antib...
And don't trust flickr about the taken-on dates.
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Tags: Peteshep Peter Sheppard PS Travel France Alpes-Maritimes Antibes Historic town Neo-Classical Cote d'Azur Copyright photo Historic Architecture Arches Buildings/Architecture Mediterranean Architecture Directory Ochres Townscape French Riviera Côte d'Azur Geotagged Géomarquée Public Placemaking 2003
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