In Which We Wander the Rhone, Part I

It all began on a rainy Saturday a bit over a year ago, when The Spouse and I decided to head south and see what we could find.  We drove over the awesome Furka Pass and on the downward side stopped to take in the view of the Rhone Gletscher, source of the Rhone River.  We knew it from our visits to southern France and marveled here at how that major river had its beginnings in an Alpine torrent.

 

Then and there was born the idea of following the Rhone from its beginnings all the way to its end in the Mediterranean Sea.  It would be a perfect fusion of a number of our favorite things: travel, history – because the Rhone has been an important highway since well before the Romans conquered Gaul – and wine.  The Côtes du Rhône in Provence is our favorite French wine region and we would be happy for any excuse to visit there again – even if it technically is a bit east of the actual river.

Nor did it need to be some grueling long distance trek.  We could easily cover the first section from the origin to Lake Geneva during other travels around Switzerland and then leave the rest for a specially planned trip.

So, that first weekend we continued to follow the Rhone as, engorged with recent rains, it surged through a mountain valley that gradually widened into the German-speaking area known as the Goms, the easternmost section of the Swiss canton of Wallis (in German) or Valais (in French).   

The Goms was populated by small villages featuring rough wooden barns, and the usual complement of red geraniums.

Gradually the valley widened into one of the broadest in Switzerland and fields dotted with grazing cows gave way to large vineyards covering south-facing hillsides.  Not surprisingly, it was at this point that the language switched from German to French.

 That weekend, it was also at this point that we left the Rhone to explore the Lötschental, a valley stretching northward.  The next day we hiked up to the glacier at its end, part of the massive Jungfrau-Aletsch glacier system that stretches north between the Valais and the area of the Alps known as the Bernese Oberland.  

View from our hotel

Over succeeding months we returned to Valais several times.   Once we explored the Val D’Herens, another valley opening to the south that ends at a village named Arolla with stunning mountain vistas.  

Descending into Valais

In January we crossed the Rhone again en route to Zermatt.   We have also enjoyed several pleasant visits to Sion, capital of the Canton of Valais and a center of power in the area since Romans established a settlement named Sedunum in the 1^st century A.D.  Later it was the seat of a bishopric that ruled the area until modern times.

Further to the southwest at Martigny the Rhone runs up against the mountains and turns northward.   A meeting point for routes from Italy via the St. Bernard Pass and from France past Mont Blanc, Martigny has been an important crossroads since it was founded by the Romans about 16 A.D.  When I was in the U.S. last spring The Spouse made another visit to check out Martigny’s Roman ruins. 

After Martigny the Rhone runs north-north-westward for about 20 miles until it debouches into Lake Geneva, Lac Léman to the French.    

View of North Shore from Evian

As a river and a lake it is surrounded by some of the most famous vineyards in Switzerland.  The hills that rise gradually from the north shore are covered with hundreds of small family vineyards, while the sunny shoreline is known as Switzerland’s Riviera, marked by cosmopolitan resort cities like Montreux and Vevey.   

Statue of Freddie Mercury in Montreux

The area has long been a favorite of European artistic types, including Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin in the early 19^th century and Charlie Chaplin and Freddie Mercury in the 20^th century.  Chaplin is buried in Vevey and Mercury in Montreux; each town remembers its famous resident with a statue in their public square. 

View of Evian from Montreux

The mountains rise more abruptly on the south shore, much of which is in France.  Last summer we stopped for lunch in the charming resort town of Evian and felt instantly the culinary difference between Switzerland and France.

Sitting at a strategic point on the eastern shore of the lake is the Château de Chillon, an amazing 13^th century castle that is one of the most perfectly preserved castles anywhere.  Built by the Dukes of Savoy to protect trade routes between northern and southern Europe, it was captured by the Bernese in the 16^th century.   

That was in the middle of the wars resulting from the Protestant Reformation, and in the dark dungeon at the castle’s base was chained a Protestant named François de Bonivard.  When Byron visited the dungeon he was so moved by the direness of the environment that he was inspired to write his poem The Prison of Chillon.  When one visits it isn’t hard to see why – the dark, dank cavern epitomizes the Romantic vision of the plight of the imprisoned hero.

On the far, western side of Lake Geneva stands the French-speaking city of Geneva.  It was a center of the Reformation under Jean Calvin and attracted a commercial and cosmopolitan character that has only grown in recent years as it hosts many arms of the United Nations, international NGOs and CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics.  It also has perhaps the most attractive waterfront in all Switzerland, a land that has so many beautiful lakeside cities.

And just like Luzern and Zürich, Geneva is sited where the principal river flows out of (rather than into) the lake.  It passes under a broad bridge bedecked with United Nation flags and past several attractive islands on its way westward toward France.

  

And in June that’s about where we rejoined the Rhone to complete our mission to follow the river to its end.  We left the major motorway, the better to follow the Rhône (its French spelling) as it meandered westward through a countryside of rolling hills and farms. 

At one point where it passed through a steep valley we stopped to survey a hydroelectric dam, reflecting its increasingly industrial character.

At length, we reached Lyon, France’s second-largest city and our first day’s goal.  Though I’ve been to France quite a few times, and The Spouse spent a few days in Lyon doing research in a previous incarnation as an academic, we knew little about the city and were looking forward to exploring it.  After a bit of difficulty getting into the city during rush hour, complicated by construction detours of which our GPS was unaware, we found our hotel.  It was located in the heart of the city, which lies between two rivers, the Rhône and the Saône, that ultimately converge south of the city.

Our first goal was to sample some of the Lyonnaise cuisine for which the city is famous.  We walked to the Brasserie George, a huge establishment that has been in business since 1836.  Though it was a bit touristy, we enjoyed the 1920s art-deco décor and the efficiency of the waiting staff, dressed in their traditional white shirts, black trousers and white aprons – though now quite a number were women.  Going to the traditional Lyonnaise section of the menu, I ordered the andouillette in a Dijon sauce.  When it arrived it was a sausage loosely containing some rubbery meat, in a thick cream sauce.  Later when we looked it up we discovered that the filling was chopped pig intestines, marinated and sautéd in red wine.  It wasn’t bad, but I don’t think I’ll have it again.

Day two of the Great Rhône journey was devoted to exploring Lyon and its history.  Our first stop was the marvelous Musée de la Civilisation Gallo-Romaine, perched on the Fourvière hillside next to a Roman theater that had stood at the center of the city of Lugdunum, center of the Roman colony of Gaul.  We enjoyed pouring over the collections of artifacts and then wandering through the grounds of the theater, now being used for a summer music festival.  In the afternoon we visited the Old City on the banks of the river, whose charming medieval architecture had been restored and prettied up in recent years.

Former Factory Section

In the Musée Gadagne, the city history museum housed in a marvelous 16^th century mansion, we learned much more about the development of textile factories that dominated Lyon’s economy for centuries.  When these declined in the 20^th century the city struggled like so many industrial cities.  Only recently has the process of urban revitalization begun to turn the old factories and workers’ housing into condos.

The 19th century city lies on the Presqu’île between the two rivers.  In the large plaza next to the Hôtel de Ville stands a marvellous fountain sculpted by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, who also created the Statue of Liberty.  Its four horses symbolize rivers galloping towards the sea, an appropriate reminder of our journey.

Chez Hugon

On our second evening we managed to grab the last available table at Chez Hugon, a tiny bouchon near the Hotel de Ville.  A bouchon is a type of restaurant for which Lyon is famous, based on the tradition of workingmen’s cafes.  They feature hearty dishes similar to my andouilette, that use simple and fresh ingredients and the cheaper cuts of meat with creamy sauces.  Steering clear of the pig’s intestines, I had gateau de volaille (chicken liver cake) and TS had quenelles (ground fish dumplings); we agreed that though both were tasty they were a bit too heavy for repeated consumption.  Above all, we loved the intimacy and comraderie of the tiny place – we counted 36 seats in all – presided over by Madame Hugon herself.

[To be continued]