Sion – Sunniest Town in Switzerland

Sion Part 1

After one last look at the Matterhorn, we reluctantly headed off to the SwissRail train station.

It wasn’t as clear this time as it was during our first visit to Zermatt back in 2010, but we want to show you a panorama of what you can expect from the Gornergrat Station when it is.

Did we tell you how much we love SwissRail?

At 9:37 a.m. precisely, our train pulled out of the Zermatt rail station. Gliding past farms and vineyards of the picturesque Rhône Valley,

we eased smoothly into the town of Sion a relaxing and comfortable two hours later.

The town of about 35,000 has a rich history, with the earliest known human settlement tracing back to about 6200 B.C. Many artifacts dating from the Neolithic period are evidence of the region’s desirable location; in fact, Sion is thought to be where this area of Switzerland was first settled. New archaeological discoveries are constantly being made. Suzanne just recently ran across this item, for example:

https://www.thelocal.ch/20170623/archaeologists-find-7000-year-old-human-remains-in-sion-city

By the late first century B.C., Sion was the capital of one of the four Celtic tribes in the region. The Celts were in turn conquered by the Romans in the final decades B.C., who ruled well into the fourth century A.D.

What is known as the Old Town of Sion, lying between the citadel-capped buttes of Valère and Tourbillon, dates back to the Middle Ages. Once a walled city, only a few remnants of the town’s fortifications remain.

The modern city of Sion began a major renovation of its downtown in 2003, and the result is a pedestrian-friendly centre of broad boulevards and shopping streets. 

Sion won a well-deserved Swiss prize for urban renewal in 2013.

Sébastien Dévaud, from Tourisme Sion, met us at the train station and brought us to the Hotel du Rhône, about a 20-minute walk…uphill. Must thank Kathy-Ann Nobbs-Thiessen and her Zumba fitness classes for being able to make it there hauling my carry-on, and my knapsack with all our camera gear. Sébastien gallantly wheeled Suzanne’s suitcase for her.

Our hotel was conveniently located just about at the edge of the Old City, on a pleasant retail mall called Place du Midi. We slopped on sunscreen, and were ready to hike onward.

Sébastien led us up a series of very pretty, narrow streets and steep staircases that date back to medieval times

 to the Restaurant L’Enclos de Valère.

 With such beautiful sunny weather, we asked to be seated outside on the restaurant’s large terrace,

under lovely shade trees. Sion enjoys a micro-climate that allows even olives and cactus to grow. We enjoyed a fabulous lunch accompanied by a fine white wine made from the local Petite Arvine grape (only grown in Valais around Sion, Martigny, and Sierre), which leaves a characteristic and intriguingly salty finish. 

Alas, two men sitting at a table near us both lit up cigarettes…sigh.