Monday, October 31, 2016

Restaurant Bruderholz

Executive summary by darmansjah

Located a short distance south of the city limits, this gourmet restaurant -- an elegant shrine of haute cuisine -- is renowned throughout Switzerland. Customers may dine inside or on the backyard terrace by the garden. The former private residence is decorated with antiques and oil paintings. Our favorite room is the Salon Vert, with its green napery, Empire chairs, and light-patterned Oriental rug.

The chef produces a refined yet lively cuisine known for its intense flavor and use of top-quality ingredients. Specialties may include corn-fed chicken with hazelnut carrots and a passion fruit polenta; red mullet with pink peppers and fennel sauerkraut, or pike-perch roasted with green tea and served with peppermint-flavored asparagus. The Swiss mountain lamb glazed with violet tea is masterful. For dessert, we'd suggest a compote of pears or a soufflé made with the fresh fruit of the season.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Murren

Executive summary by darmansjah

Mürren is a traditional Walser mountain village in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland, at an elevation of 1,650 m  above sea level and unreachable by public road. Tourism is popular through the summer and winter; the village features a view of the three towering mountains: Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. Mürren has a population of just 450, but has 2,000 hotel beds.

Mürren has its own school and two churches, one Reformed and one Roman Catholic.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Mount Etna

Executive summary by darmansjah

Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Province of Catania, between Messina and Catania. It lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is the tallest active volcano on the European continent, currently 3,329 m (10,922 ft) high, though this varies with summit eruptions. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 (459 sq mi) with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. Only Mount Teide in Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under this mountain by Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder and king of gods, and the forges of Hephaestus were said to also be located underneath it.

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes of the mountain and the broad Plain of Catania to the south. Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations. In June 2013, it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Friday, October 28, 2016

Valley of Temples

Executive summary by darmansjah

The Valle dei Templi  is an archaeological site in Agrigento (ancient Greek Akragas), Sicily, southern Italy. It is one of the most outstanding examples of Greater Greece art and architecture, and is one of the main attractions of Sicily as well as a national monument of Italy. The area was included in the UNESCO Heritage Site list in 1997. Much of the excavation and restoration of the temples was due to the efforts of archaeologist Domenico Antonio Lo Faso Pietrasanta (1783–1863), who was the Duke of Serradifalco from 1809 through 1812. The archaeological park and landscape of the Valley of the Temples is the largest archaeological site in the world with 1,300 hectares.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Aeolian Islands


Executive summary by darmansjah

The Aeolian Islands are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, named after the demigod of the winds Aeolus. The locals residing on the islands are known as Aeolians (Italian: Eoliani). The Aeolian Islands are a popular tourist destination in the summer, and attract up to 200,000 visitors annually.

The largest island is Lipari thus the islands are sometimes referred to as the Lipari Islands or Lipari group. The other islands include Vulcano, Salina, Stromboli, Filicudi, Alicudi, Panarea and Basiluzzo.