Gruyère District

No sunny idyllic Swiss countryside scenes today. Overcast and rainy. Managed to get in one good tourist visit between rain drops. Off to Gruyères, home of the cheese for Quiche Lorraine and fondue. First stop the obligatory,and highly advertised, cheese making self -guided tour. A busy place and interesting audio on the cheese making process, done from the cows point of view. 😂. And a very good gift shop.

Then up to Gruyeres, a totally pedestrian village, so you park at the bottom and walk up. On the ascent you are acutely aware of the cows around - all have large bells. See pic below (the real cow one). Crowned at the top of the hill by the Chateau de Gruyeres, the town is lined with souvenir shops and restaurants. Not very big, but cobblestone streets and lots of tourists from all over the world made for a lovely afternoon.

I had made up my mind that today was the day I was going to have fondue, I have seen peoples eating it at every restaurant I have visited in Switzerland. I don’t remember ever having it since it was popular back in the 60’s and 70’s. Found the restaurant I had read had “the best” and had a seat, thankfully, as it had just started raining harder. A real splurge - both on calories and expense but it was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed every morsel I could eat. It is served with small baked potatoes, cocktail onions, cornichons, and bread. While I was waiting for lunch, I was reading on line the etiquette of eating fondue. 😂. A real treat and I topped it off with the chochatiest chocolate ice cream I have ever seen down the street at a chocolate store. (And REALLY good). I am done for the day!
Back to the car to plan where to go next for a walk when the rains came in earnest. So home it was for the evening. A break came around 6P & I went out for a walk - found a path to follow along a rushing river and added a few more pics for the day. Tomorrow looks better for weather.Read more