Chocolate, Cheese and a Chateau

Venturing out from the Geneva area on Tuesday, Sue and I made our way into the interior of the Switzerland countryside to the La Gruyere region. Before leaving the States, I was informed that one cannot come to Switzerland without eating a lot of cheese and chocolate. Being here for almost three weeks, I can firmly agree with this statement and today was another confirmation. Sue and I made our way around Lake Geneva and drove into the small town of Broc for our first stop at the Cailler Chocolate Factory.


Cailler is one of Switzerland's oldest and most traditional brands of chocolate and was first created back in 1819 by Swiss chocolate-making pioneer Francois Louis Cailler. Despite increasingly modern chocolate production methods introduced over the course of the 20th century, special care was given to maintaining the high quality of ingredients and retaining the same traditional chocolate recipes used by the company's founders. The distinctive milk taste is still a unique feature of Cailler chocolate (ie; Nestle chocolate uses milk powder vs. regular milk in the creation of chocolate).
The factory tour consisted of information about Cailler chocolate manufacturing, views of the actual chocolate making process, and a chance to taste the chocolate (over 10 varieties were available for UNLIMITED sampling), which by far was the best part! I left the factory with a full stomach and a new appreciation for chocolate production!

After enjoying and buying many chocolates, Sue and I headed to the small village of Pringy, where we visited Maison du Gruyere (a working cheese-dairy). We opted to skip the tour, but were able to see the storeroom where hundreds of cheese "blocks" are stored. So cool!


My favorite part of the day was visiting the village of Gruyeres and the village chateau, a former regional seat of power occupied by 19th century counts. The village allowed us to enjoy shops filled with traditional Swiss crafts and souvenirs, as well as food establishments that offered crepes, Swiss fondue and rosti, a famous Swiss potato dish. The views from the entrance of the chateau offered panoramic views of the countryside and "pre-Alps," which looked like they had been perfectly inserted as the backdrop in a painting of a fairytale village.
Today was a wonderful day to experience a new part of Switzerland, be thankful for the ability to see (and taste!) new things, and reflect on the amazing gift of life.
Vivez bien - Aimez beaucoup - Riez souvent