< Switzerland travel, outdoor and carnival photography
Tour des Combins | Lucerne Carnival | Via Berna | Basel Fasnacht | Sechseläuten in Zürich
Switzerland travel and documentary photography by Rudolf Abraham. Photographs from hiking the Tour des Combins, a 100km trek through the Swiss Alps, comparable to but less well known than the Tour du Mont Blanc; and from the Via Berna, a new 300km hiking trail across the Canton of Bern, from Bellelay in the Bernese Jura, through the Mittelland, to the Unesco-listed Jungfrau region with views of iconic peaks such as the Eiger and the Wetterhorn, past the Reichenbach falls, and finishing on the Susten Pass in the Bernese Oberland. Photographs from the Lucerne Carnival, known as the 'Fifth Season' and one of the largest and most colourful in Switzerland, running from Schmutzigen Donnerstag (Fat Thursday) to Shrove Tuesday and famous for its fabulous costumes and bands playing Guggenmusik (brass/percussion music). Images from Zürich Pride. Photography from Sechseläuten in Zürich, an annual festival in which Böögg the snowman is burnt on a huge bonfire on the main square, at six o'clock sharp, and his head blown off with fireworks. Images from the Basel Fasnacht, Switzerland's largest and most spectacular carnival, which is inscribed on the Unesco list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Basel Fasnacht begins with Morgestraich, when at exactly 04.00 on the first Monday after Ash Wednesday, all the lights in the city are switched off and Basel is plunged into darkness, with cliques (groups) of pipers and drummers marching through the old town in elaborate masks and costumes. They carry large, beautifully painted lanterns (the subject matter consisting of biting political satire), which along with smaller hand-painted lamps strapped to their heads, provide the only illumination until dawn. Morgestraich is followed by a procession in the afternoon with guggenmusik. © Rudolf Abraham