Walking Tour of Sion
Sion
– Part 2 Afternoon Tour & Wine Tasting
We
followed a well-marked walking tour of the Old City.
Visitors
can get a map of this Discovery Walk from the Tourisme Sion visitor’s office,
in the village’s biggest Place de la Planta. The friendly, helpful staff
can also provide information about any of Sion’s many attractions, or book a
guided tour.
We
clambered up a trail to see the world’s oldest working pipe organ (dating back
to1435 A.D.)
in the basilica at the Château de Valère,
and
marvelled at the stunning view of the Rhône Valley and surrounding mountains
from atop this high promontory.
In
the day’s heat, we decided against tackling an equally stiff climb to Château
Tourbillon, which crowns the other high knoll above Sion.
Sébastien
did suggest that we return some day to see the “son et lumière” shows projected
against Tourbillon later each summer.
Taking
a guided tour also meant we could view a detailed diorama,
and
see models of how Sion developed over the ages, inside the normally locked Tour
des Sorciers
–
once a prison with a reputation for cruelty. We entered carefully past the
Tour’s “oubliette,” a deep, dark hole in which prisoners could be deposited and
forgotten.
Attached
to the tower were the remains of some of the double wall
that
used to surround the Old City; bricked lines on the square showed where the
walls once ran.
And
Sébastien brought us to Hasta!
which he deemed serves the best ice cream in
Sion,
just a short walk from the tourism office at Place des Ramparts and its well-utilized water park.
The
crowning highlight of our tour of the Old City was when Sébastien led us to a
locked, grated entranceway that led under the impressive Eglise Saint-Théodule,
which dates to about 1515. OMG, the church had been built atop the ruins of an
ancient Roman bathhouse.
These
ruins had been discovered during infrastructure work in the church’s basement
during the 1960s, and were excavated over a period of four years.
We also
slipped into the nearby Notre-Dame du Glarier Cathedral just after a wedding
had taken place.
While we
took the walking tour, one can opt for the hop-on, hop-off “train” that will
also cover the tour’s attractions.
We
finished our fascinating tour of the Old City with wine-tasting at the
Caveau-Oenothèque,
a
co-op store formed by the Wine Producers of Sion Association.
The
manager, Marianne Savioz, brought out a selection of seven wines (both whites
and reds) of the region to taste.
We
raised our glasses to a short but wonderful visit to Sion.
Sion
has bid a number of times for the Winter Olympics. We wish them the best of
luck in their bid for the 2026 Games.
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