Travels in Switzerland - 1

Val d ’ Hérens  – Le Chalet et le Chat My goodness, what a full and busy day! From the Grande Dixence Dam, Mireille drove us up another steep and narrow, winding road to the Buvette et Gîtes de Mandelon.  The general manager, Alexandre Mannard, explained that this was a national-level subsidized pilot project in low-impact, sustainable eco-tourism. Agritourism was developed for the entire Val d'Hérens, and the gîtes (lodgings) are one of the projects. The cozy development, set in an expansive meadow surrounded by towering peaks, is popular with hikers, nature lovers, and anyone just looking for a place to get away. It is part of a working farm and cheesery owned by a consortium of landowners who live in Val d ’ Hérens .  A buvette is a refreshment bar. When we arrived, the bar’s big sundeck was busy with locals who had driven up from villages lower in the valley to have a drink, socialize, and enjoy the spectacular view while escaping t...

Val d ’ Hérens  – Grande Dixence Dam At 285 metres in height, Grand Dixence is the tallest gravity dam in the world. Built over a period of 10 years (from 1951 to 1961), this engineering marvel captures the melt waters from some 35 glaciers in the Valais Region to provide hydroelectric power during the high-demand winter months. While we could have easily taken a nap after our yummy lunch of raclette and wine in the pretty alpine meadow, Mireille hied us on; she had made a reservation for us to take a guided tour of the dam and learn about its construction and maintenance. We would also learn how Switzerland is working hard on conservation to help wean itself from generating electricity using non-renewable sources like imported oil. After a short drive along another tight, twisty, switchbacked route, we pulled into the parking lot next to the information booth for the dam. My goodness, we could certainly see why the inhabitants of this region can eat big lu...

While Val d'Hérens is known for its skiing, snowshoeing, and even biathalon in winter, and activities like mountain climbing, hiking, and parasailing in summer, it is renowned for its Hérens breed of cattle. The breed is unique to Valais in Switzerland and Valle d’Aoste in northern Italy. These stocky bovines with rather short legs are perfectly suited to the steep alpine pastures where they spend their summers. They are prized for their lean, flavourful meat, with less bone waste and trim than other breeds. But they have one trait that separates them from almost all other cattle… When we met Franziska Amstutz from Valais Tourism on the train to Zermatt, she said that she and her colleagues were puzzled why we wanted to go to Val d'Hérens, so far off the usual tourist track. Being such a French-speaking part of Switzerland, most of its North American visitors are from Québec. She was surprised when we told her that we had stumbled upon an anecdote about the cows of the...

Val d ’ Hérens  -  Evolène As part of the excellent Swiss Travel System, inter-city bus travel was included on our SwissRail passes. And like Swiss trains, we had to assume the 8:40 a.m. bus we were catching would leave right on time. After breakfast and checking out from the Hotel du Rhône, we quickly headed for the bus station,   which is right next to Sion’s SwissRail station. Thankfully, our walk was all downhill this time, and we only needed to follow the topography’s natural slope to find our way to the bus station. It’s a bit of a white-knuckle bus ride up the narrow, two-lane road that twists and turns with tight switchbacks as it climbs out of Sion. The bus was equipped with seatbelts, but we didn’t use them; if we went off the road, we probably wouldn’t survive anyway. Besides, this was a regularly scheduled bus route, and our driver (smoothly shifting a manual transmission while negotiating the tight esses) was an experienced pro. ...