Today, I took a bath.
No, I've had "baths" before (just in case you're being a smartass), in tubs, but if you've never heard of or experienced baths, let me enlighten you. These are complexes built on thermal hot springs, for leisure, relaxation, and therapeutic purposes, where you go and immerse yourself in the warm mineral waters that the Earth shares with us. In our case, we visited the Bains de Saillon (in French) on the outskirts of Saillon, a small town that sits in a beautiful valley in the Alps of the canton of Valais. Saillon sits just between the cities of Martigny and Sion, so we were up very early in the morning to get to Geneva station for our train to Martigny.
The train rolled by Lake Geneva all the way to Montreux before it veered sharply south into one of Switzerland's many valleys, and suddenly the scenery changed very dramatically to towering mountains on both sides, and the sophisticated cities of Lake Geneva gave way to alpine towns and small cities. Indeed, there were stations and stops that our train rolled right past, as they were too small, and were serviced by intra-regional trains designed to get you to one of the bigger centres. We arrived in Martigny by mid-morning, and needed to kill some time, as Etienne had planned three hours in the afternoon at the bath for us. He had done his research, and found an art exhibition at the Fondation Pierre Gianadda for us to see.
I have to say, for a small "provincial" museum, the building is quite fascinating; it doubles as a concert hall, so the main room is a large open courtyard, built down in the rock, surrounded by an upper balcony. The small art exhibition was featured on the walls surrounding the square courtyard, and we were through it fairly quickly (urged to speed through it by the presence of pushy, entitled babyboomer tourists and a visit by seemingly all the children at a local school). But the musuem hides a couple of surprises; in one corner, you head down a small tunnel to a room hosting more of the permanent collection, and to my surprise, in the basement further down, an automobile museum! The British Classic Car Show in Morges was a treat, but imagine how stunned I was when I entered a dark, subterranean room hosting a fantastic collection of cars dating from 1897 to 1939 from a variety of European car makers, including a Delauney-Belleville that had once belonged to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia! Amazing!
After the excitement and hurry of the morning, I needed to eat (hypoglycemia cares not for the schedules of touring), so we walked down Martigny's main street toward the train station, stopping for McDonald's fries along the way (yes, McDonald's even finds its way into the Alps), to catch our bus to the Baths. The bus took us through the countryside, past farms and villages, and the Château de La Bâtiaz, an old fortress jutting out from a high steppe of a mountain, before depositing us at the front door of the bath facilities.
At first glance, the exterior looks old, and dated from the 1970's or early 1980's, but once you were inside, it was a renovated, modern facility. If you are not doing the spa experience, you start out in the interior pool with a special jet experience designed to massage the body, starting at the feet, and slowly moving up to the neck and shoulders. From there you can go outside to the exterior pool with more jet experiences, this time in the form of two small, personal alcoves, or a line of beds along on side of the pool. If you want some fun, you go from there to the thermal "River Experience", a pool with jets that push you along (little swimming required!) in a simulated current experience, lined with side pools with more beds, or a fun little fake grotto that alternated between a very powerful jet and a waterfall...the trick is to fight the current in order to get into these places! When you are done with the pools/river, or you just want to take a quiet break, the resort recently built a large outbuilding that houses three types of sauna and a Hammam. Oh, and by the way...you are surrounded by 360 degrees of mountain views. Poor Etienne didn't have his contacts (a mishap ruined the only pair he brought to Switzerland), so he couldn't see much when I pointed out something in the mountains.
This was just what we needed in the middle of a hectic "vacation" schedule.
A bath in the Alps...
...Wish you were here.
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