Switzerland Day 3 - Gruyères & more
The building on the eastern entrance was the 11th century fortified tower built by the bishop of Lausanne, which is the Roman Museum today. It was too early to visit it. Perhaps next time.
Le Château d’Avenches, or the Castle Avenches stood right next to the Roman ruins. It was originally built in the 13th century and renovated and enlarged during the 16th century. Today the castle houses offices, classrooms, a theatre, an art gallery and a library. The northeast entrance was open. We stepped in but there was nothing in the courtyard and the building there was closed at that time. Oh well, at least it was nice watching the attractive exterior of the castle.
We explored the town center. It was small but charming. Some shops and a church were on the main street while most of the buildings there looked like residential houses. The town center was quiet in the early Saturday morning.
Bakeries were open. There were a few on the main street. We tried Boulangerie Aeby Sa for breakfast. A lady at the store spoke to us in French, not German. We realized we came to the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
Their pasties looked lovely. I chose a sweet bun with custard cream on the top. It was nice. I don't know the name of the pastry but I had a similar one at a cafe near Vatican. J had something savory. I don't remember what it was but I remember the lady asked him if he would like her to warm it up and he said yes. I clearly remember he also had a pain aux raisins.
A giant croissant in front of another bakery. With a very brief glance in the store, it appeared that Aeby Sa had a better selection. Aeby Sa was J's finding. Well done!
Our second stop was Gruyères. The medieval castle and the old town were upon the hill. We had a good hike on the steep uphill trail from the car park. We could see the part of the castle at the far end of the hilltop, where we were going to.
At the end of the trail was Bastione d'ingresso, the remains of the ramparts, walls and gate of the old town.
The old town was tiny but cute. It had only one straight cobbled street, which led us to the castle.
The view from the entrance of the castle was very nice. Église Saint-Théodule, a Catholic church was down there and three mountain peaks, including Moléson (right in the photo below) were over there.
We bought tickets and entered the castle. A cute donkey welcomed us.
People there were wearing medieval clothing.
And they were dancing and playing the music in the courtyard. Did we time-travel somehow?
It was the traditional medieval festival during the Saint-Jean-Baptiste holiday weekend. We happened to be there on the Saturday. As an attraction of the festival, sword fighting was being demonstrated in one of the rooms on the ground floor of the castle.
The 13th century castle serves as a museum today, presenting its 800 year history with the architecture and the decorations in each room. It was originally the main residence of the counts of Gruyère, one of the most important noble families of western Switzerland in the Middle Ages, and then taken by the bailiffs of Fribourg in the 16th century. In the 19th century, the castle became a summer residence of the Bovy brothers, John (a watch maker), Antoine (?) and Daniel (an artist). Daniel invited his artist friends from France and Geneva, turning the castle into an artistic utopia.
We stepped out to the small balcony and found the lovely garden down there. The hilltop castel apparently stood alone in the countryside, surrounded by farming fields, rolling hills and mountains.
It was an interesting self-tour of the castle. We went down the stairs from the second (the third by the USA standard) floor, where the exit of the museum was at, to the courtyard.
There was a Medieval pottery shop at the courtyard. J bought a 14th century styled mug to add in his mug collection.
Cooking onions and green lentils in huge pots. I don’t know what the final output would be.
The gate behind the chapel was to the lovely garden that we saw from the balcony of the castle.
The castle was adorable and the festival was a bonus. We picked the right day to visit the castle!
We walked down the main street to the other end.
We stopped by at Chocolaterie de Gruyères, a little chocolate store near the other end of the street. The inside of the store was nicely air-conditioned and smelled chocolate-y wonderfully.
It was a pretty hot day and impossible to buy and take any chocolate back to the hotel. We both had a piece of Griottes Cognac (dark Griottes cherries maturated in Cognac and covered with dark chocolate) right there. It was a delightful treat.
A nice view of Moléson from the end of the main street!
Our lunch was of course Gruyère cheese. We tried Le Chalet de Gruyères, a restaurant, located just 3-5 minute walk from the old town.
We chose dining inside to avoid direct sunshine, heat and smoke. We were seated at a window table. Bright and cozy.
We ordered Fondue AOP Château de Gruyères and Roastbeef Froid to share. The cheese of the fondue was a mix of Gruyère AOP and Vacherin Fribourgeois AOP (Swiss semi-hard cheese produced in the canton of Fribourg, to where the town of Gruyères belongs). The lunch was absolutely wonderful. My dream, "eat Gruyère cheese fondue in Gruyères with J" came true in the best way I could imagine.
The peaceful sound of cow bells was always heard around the old town of Gruyères.
Our last stop of the day was the city of Fribourg, located in the middle between Gruyères and Bern. The capital of the canton of Fribourg is a Medieval old city that was built on a hill, surrounded on the three sides by the Sarine river and has a large cathedral. That sounds like Bern.
We parked our car near the 16th century City Hall, 'L'Hôtel de Ville' and walked to St-Nicholas Cathedral. Built between 1283 and 1490, the Gothic Cathedral stood out in the city.
The interior was lovely. Especially, the stained glass windows were splendid. They were created by the Polish painter Jozef Mehoffer between 1896 and 1936 and considered as one of the most important and beautiful collections of the Art Nouveau stained-glass windows in Europe.
We walked down the street next to the Cathedral and took a long downhill slope, looking for townscapes that retain vestiges of the Middle Ages.
It seems any public fountains in Switzerland can provide an ultra-clear light blue colored water.
At the bottom of the slope was Le pont du Milieu. Built in the 13th century it was the main bridge access to the Medieval Fribourg. While the original timber structure was replaced in 1720 by a stone bridge, it's nice to keep the old artery today.
We crossed Le pont du Milieu and walked the other side of the river for a while. Then we crossed the next bridge to get back. The Cathedral tower was a big guidepost.
This was the spot that started a steep uphill walk. At the top was the City Hall.
After the long down and up hill walk, gelato or smoothie sounded nice. Somehow there weren't many shops or cafes on the way and we didn't have a chance to rest. We walked up a couple of the streets around the Collège Saint-Michel to look for a nice gelateria or a cute cafe. There were many shops but we didn't see any attractive one. We decided to drive back to Bern before we get too hot or tired.
To be continued...
