Valais
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Valais, more formally the Canton of Valais, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion.
Valère Basilica dominating the Rhône Valley. By the 12th century, the bishops of Sion began building churches and castles in Sion to represent their power and administer their estates.
Valais joins the Confederation by Ernest Biéler (1944)
The Rhône Valley near Pfynwald. Note the vineyards, pines, and steppic vegetation that are typical of dry Central Valais
The Aletsch Glacier, largest in the Alps
Rhône
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The Rhône is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Arles, near its mouth, the river divides into the Great Rhône and the Little Rhône. The resulting delta forms the Camargue region.
The Rhône in Lyon
The source of the Rhône, at the foot of the Rhône Glacier, above Oberwald.
Mouth of the Rhone
Pont du Mont-Blanc in Geneva, marking the outflow from Lake Geneva (right)