Day 14 – Gruyere – mountains, cows and cheese

posted in: Travel | 1
Gruyere from the bus - before we drove up the hill
Gruyere from the bus – before we drove up the hill

Ah, mountains. And scenery. And grass and animals. There’s no doubt where my heart is happier. We hopped on a bus with thirty-four other passengers and headed for the hills as fast as we could make it. Maybe there are sights to see in Basel, but we didn’t see them.

For me, I couldn’t wait to see the mountains, and I resisted the temptation to take pictures through the windows for quite a while. Pete didn’t, snapping away at every opportunity. I did eventually cave, but really, there’s no point unless the bus is stationary. Even then you’re just as likely to get reflections in your shots. Like that one at the top.

The weather was perfect, the snow-capped peaks glittering in the sun, and the meadows so green they hardly seemed real. We made our first stop around 11am, an impromptu visit to the fortified town of Gruyere, where the cheese comes from. Apparently we were scheduled to visit there the following day, but the guide and driver decided the weather was so good it would be a shame to risk the forecast rain for tomorrow.

The village is gorgeous, perched up in the foothills with a dramatic backdrop of beautiful mountains, Cows came out of their barns to enjoy the lush grass. In the village women dressed in their local costumes made their way to work in the coffee shops and restaurants. And we found a free toilet. (Don’t laugh. You could expect to pay CHF0.50 to use a public loo – that’s 75c Australian)

The view from the ramparts - cows and mountain and spectacular green
The view from the ramparts – cows and mountain and spectacular green
The cobble-stoned central square
The cobble-stoned central square
Towards the town gate
Towards the town gate
Gruyere means 'crane'. We saw them everywhere on the houses
Gruyere means ‘crane’. We saw them everywhere on the houses
The inevitable church perched at the end of the village
The inevitable castle perched at the end of the village
Two churches, two styles
Castle and church

AltIMG_3783hough it was early, we’d been told this would be a lunch stop, so we selected one of the many restaurants and tried to order a meal. It was too early. Lunch orders would not be taken until 11:30. OK. We had a cup of coffee, instead. They serve it black, with a side of cream that comes in a chocolate container, which you then eat. Saves washing up.

When we’d finished the coffee the woman came to us with her money bag for payment. Pete asked if we could order lunch now (11:20) and was told that this was a different person, she only did coffee. Fine. We paid for the coffee and waited for a wait person to appear. We’d cruised through the menu, looking for a sandwich or something. Eventually we decided upon half a quiche with salad, an entry in the starters menu. We were due to leave at 12:30, and the food did take a looong time to arrive, but it was worth it, fresh and delicious, with a Swiss version of a salad.

Serving sizes are HUGE in Switzerland. So pleased we didn’t ask for a main course.

Half a gruyere quiche with salad. It was delicious.
Half a gruyere quiche with salad. It was delicious. The salad is fine sliced curly cabbage, red and yellow capsicum, a radish, cubed beetroot and lettuce wrapped in a thin slice of zucchini

From Gruyere we drove down to Lake Geneva to Montreux, a haunt of the rich and famous. I’ll write about that in the next post.

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