Located in Eastern
Switzerland, the town of Appenzell is the capital of Appenzell
Innerrhoden, the Roman Catholic half of the two half-cantons.
The other half is Protestant and called Appenzell Ausserrhoden.
The attractive town, with its distinctive, colourfully decorated
houses, nestles amid lush green hills. The Appenzell folk are
rightly proud of their cultural heritage and don their colourful
traditional costumes for special occasions. The cattle drives to
and from the alps are true Swiss picture-postcard scenes and
often depicted in local naïve art. The town is also one of
Switzerland’s most active centres for yodelling, alphorn playing
and other Swiss folklore traditions. Appenzell is also famous
for another tradition: the annual Landesgemeinde, an open-air
parliament held in the town square, where citizens of the canton
elect the local government and vote directly on major issues.