Switzerland Part One: Ayent

This is an important post. So important, in fact, that I will have to make it two posts. Because it’s about the most stunningly beautiful country I’ve ever visited—Switzerland!

Once we decided to head into eastern France, it was only a matter of time before I convinced us to go to Switzerland. It was a new country for both of us, and Bryan’s 50th country, so that’s what got him on board.

The beauty of Switzerland smacks you in the face as soon as you cross the border. The views of the Alps are everywhere. And everything feels fresh, crisp, and pristine. We stopped for gas and quick burgers, and my jaw dropped looking around. Plus, the burger employee asked why I left Bailey outside and invited me to please bring her in. Respect!

Our first stop was Ayent, Switzerland where we stayed at Mayen2003 Ayent, a historic chalet that was built in the 1700s. As we zig-zagged up the two-way road i(that was barely wide enough for one car, let alone two) into the mountains, my heart was racing. But the views were worth it.

The whole town made me want to go skiing, but it was August, so we would have to settle for hiking.

But first, surfing! Bryan did a session at Alaia Bay, a state of the art wave pool where you can surf in the Alps. Sadly, I chose not to go, because I was saving up all my money to spend on fondue and raclette, and I had just visited my first wave pool in Australia less than a year ago. It was amazing to watch, though! And had even more incredible views!

Now onto hiking… We did the best hike ever at Bisse du Torrent-Neuf. It was a 4.6 mile hike with a little bit of everything. Art (yes, there were prints of paintings hanging in the forest at the beginning of the hike), history in the old chapels and pictures of what the cliffside trail looked like in the past, bears (signs and statues), four suspension bridges, a tunnel, two bars/restaurants, and views upon views.

It was mind bending to know we had driven up so high, only to hike even higher, and to see mountain peaks that were still even higher than us. And it was hard not to feel some vertigo hiking on the edge of a cliff on the side of an Alp. We did not bring Bailey on this one, because she doesn’t like walking on metal grates, and the suspension bridges would have been too long and wobbly to carry her.

I also learned a bit about Swiss cuisine in this part of the trip. Apparently, raclette and fondue are not popular summertime treats (who would have guessed?!) Swiss people usually eat those meals very sparingly and in the wintertime. Also, we were still in the French part of Switzerland seeking Swiss German foods.

Nevertheless, we were able to find some places that could satisfy my Swiss food interests. We had rosti (potato) raclette at Les Brasseurs Sion—where I learned that raclette is stronger than I remembered and pretty salty for me. And Pinte Contheysanne for a serious fondue spread. The server seemed like she thought we were a little crazy for ordering it in August, but she helped us out regardless. If I lived in Sion, I don’t think I could limit myself to once a year!

I also picked a lot of delicious fresh plums off the neighbors’ trees in Ayent. And we surprisingly found a really good Thai food truck (Malagor Thai Food) down the street from our chalet. Strange to say that our first two meals in Switzerland were burgers and pad Thai, but we made up for it with the raclette and fondue.

Around that point, we decided we needed to stay in Switzerland longer in order to visit the Swiss German side, so we booked a new reservation and drove further into the mountains…

To be continued.