Gruyeres

Saturday we decided to do a little road trip and visit another heavenly slice of Switzerland. World famous for it's cheese the small town of Gruyere is perched high up on a cliff overlooking the valley.

You can drive partly up the hill and then you have to park your car outside of town as this is a small medieval town with cobbled stoned streets, stone fountains and well-preserved pretty homes. The view from the Castle village takes your breath away. I still drop my jaw at views like this and and wonder if I live in a perfect postcard. Don't think you can ever get tired of views like these. 

 Gruyeres is world famous for it's Gruyere cheese of course. This cheese is also one of the main components of fondue. There is a dairy trail that you can hike between the different dairys. Most of them open in early May but the larger ones are open year around. We made a visit to the larger Maison du Gruyere, where you can learn about the history of the cheese and see how it is made.

 It is amazing of how much milk is needed to produce the cheese. 4800 liters are required for producing 12 rounds of Gruyere cheese. Each round weighs 25 Kg. Each summer the cattle heads uphill into the Alps to give the best milk that then gives rise to the local cheese. 

 This region is of course also world famous for it fondue. The area here around Fribourg combines the regions two greatest cheeses-Gruyere and Vacherin in a half-half blend in their fondue together with white wine and a dash of garlic. Every little place and restaurant here in Gruyeres serves fondue of course. However, I do find the cheese fondue a little too rich for my taste and actually prefer the broth fondue better.

 The rounds of cheese are placed in a special ripening room with very strictly controlled conditions when it comes to temperature and humidity. They are sold at various stages, young and mild, ripe and savory, or aged to a deep and rich flavor. The rounds of cheese need to be turned daily for the first two weeks. There is a robot that walks down the path and takes down each cheese sprays it with a salt solution, turns it and places it back in it's exact shelf and position. 

The small old town is really pretty and well worth a visit in itself. There is a castle that is open to the public that you can visit.

 So beautiful here with the views of the snow capped Alps surrounding the city. We got to enjoy the town on a perfect spring day that made it all the better.

 I love these beautiful iron signs that hang on the buildings outside of restaurants and other small establishments.

 Everyone was enjoying the sunshine as did we having some coffee here at a small restaurant enjoying the spectacular views.

 Suddenly I spotted these guys and got super thrilled. They were carrying these special instruments that are shaped into a long horn. I had just seen pictures of it before.

 Turned out there was a wedding at the church and as the bride and groom emerged from the church they were saluted and greeted by a beautiful piece of music played on the horns. I am so glad I got to see this and for the first time listen to what music from these horns sounds like. It was really pretty.

 We had a great day here at Gruyeres which is located about a two hour drive from Basel. Of course we did buy some good cheese to bring home with us as well.

 With these heavenly views I do understand that the cows do produce some great quality of milk here.

There is just such a great selection of cheeses here in Switzerland. I think I read somewhere that over 400 different kinds of cheese is produced in the country. Every time I go to the supermarket it is a hard choice to pick cheese. So I always pick a few new random choices and then also some of the ones that I know we like as well.

Now I am going to head outside into the sunshine. This country is going to spoil me when it comes to food, wine, views, and summer.