The past four weekends have been filled with several small
trips (and one bigger one) that have been absolutely wonderful – all different
and all beautiful!
Gruyère
Gruyère is a small Swiss town where gruyère cheese is made.
It’s about 1.5 hours driving from where we live, so we made a day trip out of
it with some of my coworkers and friends. The drive is all along Lac Leman, so
very scenic and enjoyable.
Gruyère is a lovely, charming little town, but there are
basically only two things to do there: tour the cheese factory and eat fondue.
So we did both. It was great!
Down the road about 15 minutes in another small town called
Broc is the Cailler chocolate factory – so we toured that too. Needless to say,
we were pretty sick to our stomachs by the end of the day.
If you’re ever in Western Switzerland, these two small towns
are a great way to spend a day. Here are the links to each factory:
Lavaux Wine Terraces
Andy and I both agreed that our day in the Lavaux wine
region was our favorite day trip so far. The Terraces are about a 15 minute
drive east of Lausanne, or about a 1.5 hour train ride from Geneva. From the tourism website of Switzerland, “Lavaux is the largest
contiguous vineyard region in Switzerland, and its daringly constructed
hillside terraces have been protected by UNESCO since 2007.”
The square fields in the picture are surrounded and held up by rock walls - these are the "terraces."
And a little history lesson: “Although there is some
evidence that vines were grown in the area in Roman times, the actual vine terraces
can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian
monasteries controlled the area. It benefits from a temperate climate, but the
southern aspect of the terraces with the reflection of the sun in the lake and
the stone walls gives a Mediterranean character to the region. The main wine
grape variety grown here is the Chasselas.”
There are two ways to see the terraces: (i) hiking, or (ii) the
“Lavaux Express,” which is essentially like a children’s ride through the
vineyards. http://www.lavauxexpress.ch/en/
We did the “Terrasses de Lavaux” hiking trail, which winds
around throughout all of the vineyards and through several small towns between
Saint-Saphorin and Lutry:
The whole thing is 11.7 km, or a little over 7 miles.
If you do the hike during the summer, there are several wine
cellars and traditional pubs in the small towns that are open for
drinks/snacks/wine tastings. So you can hike for a bit, have a snack…hike for a
bit, have a glass of wine…sounds perfect, right?
Unfortunately, we went during the fall, so the cellars are largely
closed for the season. But, it was still absolutely GORGEOUS, and very much
worth it.
In the town of Rivaz toward the end of the hike (or
beginning, depending on which way you start) is the Lavaux Vinorama, a tasting
room for all the wines in the region. It’s open year-round with the exception
of January, so it was the perfect way for us to end our hike.
The website says reservations are required only for groups,
but I would suggest making one no matter how many people you’re with, just to
make sure that you have a table.
I HIGHLY recommend this day trip to anyone visiting near
Geneva/Lausanne.
Nice
For the weekend before my birthday, Andy surprised me with a
weekend getaway to the French Riviera.
Small tangent: The fact that we’re able to go for a “weekend
getaway” to the French Riviera is a blessing we do not take for granted. This
season of our life has its challenges for sure, but we are so very thankful for
the incredible opportunities we have while living here. Last year for my birthday,
we went to dinner in Denver. And it was great! This year, we drank champagne on
the coast of France, went shopping in Monaco, ate dinner on the port of Nice
with a view of the yachts…there were plenty of “is this real life?” moments. My
29th birthday will be a lifelong memory, and I’m very thankful.
So yeah, Nice was fabulous. We moseyed around cobblestone
streets and ate gelato, looked at beautiful churches, ogled the ridiculous
number of Roll Royces and Bentleys outside of the Monte Carlo casino, ate
delicious meals with great views…Nice was so very nice.
For logistics, we stayed in the best Airbnb we’ve had thus
far – if you’re ever planning a trip to Nice and want to try Airbnb, let me
know and I will be happy to send you the link. It was clean, convenient,
charming, and reasonably priced – truly the perfect arrangement. Within Nice,
we just walked everywhere (it’s not a very big place). We took the bus to
Monaco, which I would also recommend; it costs EUR 1.50 per person, takes about
30 minutes from Nice to Monaco, and it has a fantastic view of the ocean the
whole time. We used Uber to and from the airport.
Creux du Van
Yesterday we spent the day hiking near Neuchatel in the
Creux du Van.
Supposedly this thing was created by natural water erosion
from a glacier, but it looks like a meteor hit to me.
The hike starts and ends in a small town called Noiraigue, which
is accessible by train from Neuchatel. We didn’t make the full loop this time –
it’s getting dark here around 5:30 pm these days, and we weren’t sure we could
make it back in time – but we did about 10 miles total. The hike up to the view
is kind of intense; steady uphill pretty much the whole way. The view at the
top is completely worth it though! Also, one of the great things about hikes in
Switzerland is that there is usually a restaurant at the top of wherever you’re
going; this one had a cute fondue place that was perfect for a rest and a
snack.
Next up on our travel list – Madrid!
