Martigny might be small, but it definitely doesn't disappoint with scenery. We had gorgeous views of mountains from our hotel window and the snow capped mountains still amaze us Brisbanites. If you're not into outdoor activities, mountain scenery or locally made produce then Valais isn't really the place for you. It's a fairly rural place filled with vineyards and orchards (mainly Apricots) and as I've said before, the shops shut fairly early so it's definitely not for shopaholics.
Another thing that Martigny is quite well known for is it's art and the art gallery called Foundation Pierre Gianadda. The gallery houses displays of roman artifacts found in sites dug up throughout Martigny. It also boasts a rather large sculpture garden and exhibits work from famous artists. At the moment there is an exhibit of Nicholas De Staël. I've heard that people come from miles to see this gallery. I guess it's so well known because of the amount of advertising they do. On every shop window in Martigny there is a bright, yellow sticker with this dudes name on it and I've seen posters in all of the surrounding towns.
I also discovered yesterday that the gallery has an automobile museum filled with really old and very well maintained cars from all over Europe.
Along with the art gallery, there are sculptures scattered everywhere in town. On every roundabout there is a sculpture by some famous artist. My favourite would have to be the minotaur which happens to have his junk hanging out. Okay yes... I still think it's funny when I see statues with rude parts. It's something I will have to learn to deal with now that I'm living in Europe.
While we lived in Martigny for a short time we enjoyed strolling around the town and seeing what the little place had to offer. Our favourite place to eat is a tiny little Focacceria near the church in the centre of town. It has FANTASTIC pizza and calzones for a very reasonable price. We go in, struggle with our French until the guy speaks English to us, order a generous "tranche" of onion pizza (oooooh so good!) and go back outside to wait where it's a little cooler. The tiny little shop was a little hot to stay in during the warmer months. Now that the temperature is dropping rapidly, we tend to hang around inside to keep warm. We loved that place so much while we were living in our hotel that we frequented there during the week until we were sadly told that they were going to vacation for three weeks. THREE WEEKS! We were wondering what we were going to do... Those three weeks flew by while we were busy settling into our new apartment in Saint-Maurice. Now I catch the train to meet Roy in Martigny for one of those drool-worthy onion pizzas once a week.
There is more history here than you can poke a stick at and luckily it is pretty well signed, albeit in Frenglish (which makes for a good laugh). In most large towns in Valais, there are castles strategically perched on the side of giant mountains ready for anyone who dares to invade this little oasis. Going for a nice Sunday hike took us up to one of these Castles called Château de la Bâtiaz which overlooks the whole of Martigny. It's a great spot to sit and watch the river rush by underneath and to admire the mountains that do a great job of showing us humans just how small we are.
Even though Switzerland may be small, there is still so much more to explore. There's four official languages for god's sake. How small could it be?
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