Martigny-Sion-Martigny-Zermatt-Igloo

Monday 20/02/17
Whoa busy day here.

I caught the train to Sion to see the old castle on a hill. It is only 15min away from Martigny in the direction I was headed so I took my bags and put them in a locker at the train station.

At the information centre they have maps that suggest a walking train that shows the historical points of interest in the town. It is indicated that it takes 1hr 15min so I allowed 2 hours.

There was an old church

A witches tower

An old building that wasn't even mentioned 

And then the Castle

I climbed these stairs...

It is best to pack a light picnic

 It's hard to see but there is a girl sitting on the step shaped wall

I noticed a few things.

1, I am either quite unfit or the altitude is affecting me
2, I am still very uncomfortable with heights
3, It is best to pack a light picnic when hiking (croissants are best)

After my walk I had some spare time so I went and had a hot chocolate. They bring you a cup of hot milk and a sachet of chocolate powder.

 While I was there relaxing, I got a message from my accomodation the previous night saying I had left my phone there! So I had to grab my bags, jump back on the train, meet them at the train station, grab the phone and jump back on the train to get to Zermatt in time to get the train to the Igloo.

Everything worked out fine.

 Zermatt is a quaint little village that has no 'cars' but there are heaps of electric taxis and buses.

 These are traditional warehouses. They have wooden stumps then a large flat stone to keep the mice out.

Anyway, I caught the train that goes up the mountain and got out at Riffellap which is the meeting point for the Igloo. I was an hour early so I left my bags and went for a walk. It is very beautiful. The Matterhorn is just there!

 The Matterhorn- made famous by Toblerone Chocolate 

But more excitingly, I saw a Golden Retriever walking in the snow!

This is how deep the snow is...

The sun setting behind the Matterhorn 

Around 5, the rest of the igloo participants arrived and we went up another stop in the train and walked half-way back down to the igloo on one of the ski slopes. It was quite steep and the best way to get down was to slide on your bum. Unfortunately, I was still wearing my jeans so it was pretty cold.

On arrival, we had mulled wind and a tour of the Igloo complex.

The Staff tent

The wood hut that had the fire inside 

 There was a separate private Romantic Igloo that had its own private jacuzzi, warm room and ensuite

The view from the romantic igloo jacuzzi

The bed in the romantic igloo (their mattress was about twice as thick as mine...

Hard to see but this is the hand made igloo 

Made from blocks of snow

The entrance to the Igloo (and my bag)

 Looking down the hall at the doors to different rooms

 This is inside the Main room of the igloo looking at the different dining rooms with hall to rooms on the left and exit on the right

 Some of the different rooms

The en-suite... 

 My room!! Only one little sleeping bag on the big bed slab... 

 A really cool bar... Hahaha

Doorway to my room

After the tour we had fondue. I met this family from Bundagberg. The mum is a docotor and had worked at the royal and was going to start as the sole doctor in Eidsvold. They were on holiday with their son who was going to join a ballet company in Germany. They were really lovely and shared dinner and wine with me. It was really nice to have a mini family again.

After fondue we went for a snow shoe walk. It was advertised as 15min but took over an hour. I think it took this long because the guide was keen to fit in two drink stops. At the second stop, he said we should have two shots- one for each leg because if you only have one shot, only one leg gets wobbly and the other leg gets jealous... I don't think his theory worked... It was very difficult to walk back down the hill.

Then we all sat around the fire to defrost and later had a jacuzzi. There is a heated room where you can get changed then carefully walk quickly to the jacuzzi because it is freezing cold but there is ice on the ground which is very slippery.


The jacuzzi was nice but it was difficult to find a balance between keeping your face warm and dry.

I chickened out after about 20min and went to bed (it's around mignight anyway)

I had a pretty good sleep considering. The walls/roof of the igloo glitter in the light. It was really pretty.

Tuesday 21/02/17
I woke up around 7 in the morning and tried to get dressed in the sleeping bag but it was too small and I kept loosing my clothes so I went to the heated room again. Somehow I missed out on my cup of tea as we had to go straight to the hotel for breakfast.

After breakfast, we (the Smith's and I) decided to try tobogganing. It was terrifying. Mine would not steer and I flew into the powder on the sides a few times. Then we had hot chocolate at the hotel and went back down the hill to our respective accommodations.

And I met Martin. Martin was my host at the Airbnb. He was american with an interesting story about why he was in Switzerland. Something to do with avoiding being sued... Anyway, he could talk both hind legs off a donkey. I had a bit of a rest and tried to work out if I could get snowboarding lessons and where to rent gear.

When I was going out to organise these, Martin offered to help talk a deal.
They didn't have any snowboard instructors until the Thursday afternoon so I rented ski gear for Wednesday and snowboard for Thursday.
Then Martin gave me a mini tour of the village and I went for a walk around. It is quaint but not the romantic car free, horse and carriage transport I had been told about.

Martin cooked a delicious swiss dish for dinner and a huge omelette for breakfast the next day.

I was exhausted and had a great sleep, ready to ski the next day.