A whole lot of cheese & chocolate!

Since we didn't have any plans for a few weekends at the end of April we decided to take one Sunday and make a day trip to the village of Gruyeres. Although the entire country of Switzerland is known for it's cheese and chocolate, this village and surrounding region is really the heart of it. While it was a bit of a long day trip being two and a half hours away on the train, Emma was a good trooper as always.



Smiles to start our day!


The village of Gruyeres is exactly that, a small village. It is actually a medieval walled town complete with a castle that sits perched above the surrounding area on a small hill. It is best known for the famous brand of cheese it produces (Gruyeres cheese). We had a fun time exploring the village and the beautiful grounds of the castle and enjoyed a fantastic lunch of fondue and rosti (more or less the Swiss version of hash browns complete with a variety of fixings such as egg, cheese, ham, vegetables, etc). We both agreed it was probably the best fondue and rosti we have tasted while living in Switzerland, but I guess we should have expected no less seeing as to where we were eating lunch!



One of only two entrances into Gruyeres



Only one road in town!

Beautiful gardens at the castle

Steve enjoying the village walls

After enjoying a few hours in the village we continued just a short distance away to the very popular chocolate factory of Maison Callier. While Callier is a popular brand of chocolate in Switzerland, for many of us the more recognizable name that is a part of the same company is Nestle (Callier is much better though!). While there are several large chocolate companies and factories throughout Switzerland it may come as a surprise that few of them actually do tours and tastings (seems like a no brainer to me when it comes to making a few tourism dollars). As a result on a dreary Sunday afternoon Maison Callier was a very popular spot and meant we had to wait one and a half hours for our tour!

However, we were certainly not disappointed by what came after the wait! The tour was a little cheesy in parts (a bit more geared towards children), but what awaited us at the end sure came as a surprise. While we expected to receive a tasting of perhaps two or three pieces of chocolate we were instead welcomed into a room with samples of nearly every type of chocolate the Callier brand produced waiting for us to taste. And even more surprising was that it was unlimited samples. Steve and I both looked at each other and agreed this would never happen in the U.S.!

Seriously, as many as you want?! The photo doesn't look that impressive but there was a lot of chocolate here!

Needless to say, with our stomachs' full of cheese and chocolate for the train ride home, we considered the day a success. I certainly was glad I had gotten my run in that morning before we left home and we consumed those few extra thousand calories... still never ceases to amaze me how these Swiss people remain so skinny!

 

Saying goodbye to Gruyeres and one of Emma's favorites... black sheep!