I would like to introduce again a beautiful village in Valais. Grimmont is a popular mountain resort for hiking in summer as well as winter sports. This village has the same image as Evolène, which I introduced in the previous article, but it is closer to the nature and the design of the wooden houses is more sophisticated, which is typical of the Swiss Alps, so I think Grimon has a better atmosphere.
In addition, the road to here was also longer and steeper than Evoraine. Still, it might have been easier than the Italian-speaking stage. Sightseeing first thing in the morning, and clear skies! The weather was not so good in general for the tour of the most beautiful villages in Switzerland, so I was able to take some photos under the clear sky, which was rare, or almost the only one.
It is a parking lot, but apparently it is free until December. Is the season winter after all?
It was quite deep in the mountains, but there were tourists first and foremost, and it was impressive that there were many accommodation facilities. I guess it is a resort of a certain scale. Even so, the building is beautiful! They don’t look old or historic, but they are very Swiss and French designed houses with trees are worth seeing.
The village itself was very clean and well maintained. And it had a kind of artistic atmosphere.
By the way, the history of the village is…, almost no information on the official website…. It may be a relatively new village. (To be honest, I don’t know the criteria for selecting a beautiful village. But there is no doubt that it is beautiful. It’s worth a visit. It’s hard to go there, though.
By the way, I came to Valais the day before and stayed in the suburb of Sion. As I mentioned in the previous article, the Valais region is very active in wine production. There are many vineyards on both sides of the main road that runs through the state, especially on the north slope side where the sun shines well. Of course we enjoyed the local wine that night. After the visit to Grimmont, I went back to the steep mountain road toward Sion to visit some farms in the vineyard.
But I have no information at all. We just wandered around for about 30 minutes aiming at the signboard that said « VENTE ». Finally, we found a farmhouse that sold wine. I could hardly communicate in English, so I tried my best to talk to him in French and got the wine safely. It was not a fancy place like a chateau, but a really small family of farmers, but they were very kind to us. They showed us where they were actually brewing.
By the way, here is the wine I bought. It was still a long way to go back to Japan, but I was able to bring it back safely without losing its quality. The cepage « Cornaran » is unique to this area in Switzerland. It is a medium to full bodied wine and reminds me of Grenache. It is the wine of my memories.
The last part of the story is about wine and I’m a little bit off track, but Grimon is one of the most beautiful villages in Switzerland, even though it doesn’t seem to have much history, the scenery and the beauty are exceptional.
