Alittlebitoutoffocus

Alittlebitoutoffocus

I received such positive feedback on the village photographs in my last post, (thank you Jet and M.Oniker), that I decided to take a few more pictures for you to enjoy.  But first, a little background…

Evolène is a village at around 1,380m (4,525ft) in the Val d’Hérens, which itself is in the southern part of the Valais canton of Switzerland.  The population of the whole commune (which includes the neighbouring villages of Les Haudères, Villa, La Sage, La Forclaz and Arolla) is only about 1,700.  Despite this relatively low number, we have 8 bar/restaurants in our village alone.  These survive due to the number of visitors that we get both during the winter, for skiing, and the summer for walking, cycling or mountaineering.  I read that 55% of the available light (i.e from when it appears from, or disappears, behind the mountains), is sunshine.  And with little wind and a fairly dry atmosphere, not to mention some beautiful scenery, you can see why it’s quite popular.

At the moment we have the annual Carnival, which this year runs from 6th January to 5th March, (this explains why some of the pictures still show what appear to be Christmas decorations) and in the summer from 10th to 15th August there will be the biannual, CIME mountain folklore festival.  More posts to come on these no doubt… 😄

9 responses

  1. M. Oniker Avatar
    M. Oniker

    Wow! And just love these. How old are some of those older wooden building?

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    1. Alittlebitoutoffocus Avatar
      Alittlebitoutoffocus

      I’m not sure exactly how old they are. Some of the wood and stone buildings have dates on them, so I would imagine they were built around the same time. As you can see from some of the photos and the map at the end, the buildings in the old part/centre of the village are huddled together. I presumed that was to keep warm during the winter and to be close to the road. The road which goes around the village wasn’t built until quite recently. I didn’t mention it, but there are several farms in the village too, with maybe only 10 or 12 cows each. These days the cows typically live in the lower part of the (now more modern) barns, with hay stored above, but those old buildings would have been used to store the hay originally. Some are being converted into (very small) holiday chalets.

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  2. Jet Eliot Avatar
    Jet Eliot

    I so appreciate your quick response with more Evolene village photos, Mike, and I thoroughly enjoyed viewing each photo. Great to see the classic Swiss chalet architecture with the sloping roof and wide eaves. I loved seeing the range of variations–the apartments, the tall apt. building, and the new vs. old. Also enjoyed the blue sky and fluffy snow, the narrow streets, the towering Alps, and the decorations. Excellent post, thanks so much.

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    1. Alittlebitoutoffocus Avatar
      Alittlebitoutoffocus

      You’re very welcome. I aim to please. 🙂

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  3. bayphotosbydonna Avatar
    bayphotosbydonna

    Just love love love these beautiful captures, Mike! I’ve run through and enjoyed them several times. Your village is quite enchanting with so much beauty and charm! And 8 restaurants/pubs, cool!! My kinda village!!! 😊

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    1. Alittlebitoutoffocus Avatar
      Alittlebitoutoffocus

      It was voted the most beautiful village in Swiss Romande (i.e. the French speaking part) in 2012 I think it was. (Gruyère normally wins!) And, yes, you could have a good bar crawl through our village. 🍻 Cheers!

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  4. janerunswild Avatar
    janerunswild

    Stunning photos!! Thanks for sharing- I definitely would love to visit that part of the world one day!

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    1. Alittlebitoutoffocus Avatar
      Alittlebitoutoffocus

      I’m glad you enjoyed them. You should definitely visit Switzerland one day. And a belated congratulations to you and your husband. I can see why you’ve been too busy to blog. 😊

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      1. janerunswild Avatar
        janerunswild

        Thank you!!

        Liked by 1 person

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