Our first weekend at home since June, we decided to take it easy and enjoy a nice drive to Gruyères, Switzerland. Passing by fields and forests, the town of Gruyères finally rose out of the mist on the side of a small hill. Known for its restored castle, the town itself is quite small (tiny really) but very cute and pristine. We arrived in the morning while the town was still fairly quiet and strolled along the main cobblestone promenade (the only street) up towards the castle.
The castle was originally built in 1270 but has been restored multiple times over the years. We started our visit with a fun movie outlining the history of the castle, and then toured the castle which is decorated with period pieces from different centuries of ownership (from very old to somewhat old). We were both impressed with how nice the building was given its age.
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| The Hunting Room. Grrrrr! |
After touring the castle we stopped by the HR Giger cafe (outside the HR Giger museum) for some hot chocolate in what fealt like the belly of the Alien spaceship. Freaky!
Afterwards we found a small cafe for lunch (lots of local meats and cheeses).
In addition to the castle, the town is famous for its cheese, of course! Just outside the old town is the Maison du Gruyere, the Gruyere cheese making factory. There wasn't too much to see, but we were able to buy some fresh cheese before heading back home.
On the way home we stopped by Fribourg (it was just off the freeway). The city has a nice old town that was taken over by a local race (when we were there the kids were running). It was nice but nothing too exciting,and it was somewhat difficult to navigate the old town due to the race. Some pretty museum buildings and big churches though.
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