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Hi from Savièse!
I’m still in the canton of Valais, but looking at the Rhône Valley from above. Some of the vineyards belonging to this Swiss mountain village are so high that, historically, they have had problems with access to water.
So, this week, I’m taking you for a ride in a time machine. Direction? Five centuries ago, when Savièse had 20 times fewer inhabitants than today, and they had to work 20 times harder to survive.
And so we come to the bisse, a remarkable story of reliance on self-sufficiency, where every hardship teaches you that, when trouble knocks on your door, you are usually the one who can change the course of action.
The ancestors of these people changed the course of water, by creating one of the most famous irrigation canals in the region – Bisse du Torrent Neuf.
Imagine taming all that water coming from high up in the Alps, traveling over dug-out waterways, or even those impressive wooden structures clinging directly to the rock face, just to reach thirsty pastures, orchards, and fields…
But you don’t have to imagine it. You can admire the mastery of medieval engineering in the just-published Pipeaway Walk video. Walk this way only if you can handle daring cliffs and dangling bridges!
Switzerland loves its Alps, so much in fact that its yodeling mountains have inspired the entire event and even the staging of Eurovision, the greatest TV music feast arriving in Basel, its 2025 host.
You’ll be able to follow the live shows on TV and social media next week, but I’ll be heading there these days already, so let me know if you’re around.
In the cultural capital of Switzerland, the melodies will flow towards audiences as thirsty as the agricultural fields of the Middle Ages. Maybe demanding bisse and demanding bis are not that different concepts after all.
Whether you’re among the passionate ESC fans or among those who boycott Eurovision, you can’t deny that it is an event that always keeps people talking.
Well, hopefully not just talking.
Have a yodeling week!
Ivan Kralj
Pipeaway.com
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