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Tourist pulls over on busy motorway to paint Swiss mountains
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Tourist pulls over on busy motorway to paint Swiss mountains

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© 2025 IamExpat Media B.V.
© 2025 IamExpat Media B.V.
Aug 14, 2022
Jan de Boer

Editor at IamExpat Media

Jan studied History at the University of York and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Sheffield. Though born in York, Jan has lived most of his life in Zurich and has worked as a journalist, writer and editor since 2016. While he has plunged head-first back into life in Switzerland since returning to the country in 2020, he still enjoys a taste of home at pub quizzes and karaoke nights.Read more

When driving on the motorway through the Swiss mountains, there is often an urge to pull over and take a closer look at your majestic surroundings. However, one French tourist may have taken this urge a bit too far, stopping on the slip road of the motorway to paint the surrounding Alps.

Man in Valais pulls over on motorway to paint

On August 4, 2022, Charles André, a driver from Canton Valais, was travelling along the A9 between Ardon and Martigny. As he was passing the turnoff for Riddes, he spotted a vehicle parked on a slip road, but instead of being the scene of a road accident, André got a bit of a surprise.

“I wondered what this car, immobilised at the exit of the A9 motorway in Riddes, was doing there. And then I saw an elderly man who had crossed the guardrail and who was painting,” André told 20 minuten. After contacting the police, “Officers informed me that they had already been warned by other motorists and that a patrol was en route.”

Elderly tourist wanted to capture the stunning Swiss landscape

According to 20 minuten, the man, an 85-year-old from France, pulled over because he wanted to capture the “beauty of the Valais landscape.” Faced with a picture postcard setting, he hoped to immortalise the vista with his own painting, oblivious to the danger he was putting himself in.

By the time the police arrived, the artist was packing away his easel and paints and was about to leave the scene. Cynthia Zermatten, a spokesperson for the Valais police, explained that "as this man did not obstruct traffic," the officers settled the case without a criminal charge.

By Jan de Boer