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March 2002

Gruyeres

David Aaronson
2005-09-26 16:55:32

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At some indiscriminate point south of Bern, the exit signs on the autoroute stop reading 'Ausgang' and begin reading 'Sortie'. We found this rather exciting simply because our French is much better than our German. An entire region between Lausanne and Bern is called La Gruyere, and this is where the cheese of the same name comes from. The region is centered (or was once at least) on the town of Gruyeres which sits on a rocky crag jutting into the valley.

The town is tiny with only a handful of alleys and only one that can be called a street. Cars are not allowed so to visit you have to park in one of several parking areas on the hill leading up to town. Actually the number of satellite parking lots is a testament to just how popular this town can be in season (the summer). Again, we managed to visit while things were relatively quiet. At the far end of town is the castle of Gruyeres which is open to the public for a nominal fee (1).

The castle walls and dungeon date from the 13th century, most of the rest was rebuilt after a fire around 1500. This is the central courtyard of the castle (2). The wooden walkways don't look (or feel) entirely secure but they are still standing.

This is the castle's kitchen as you might expect (3). The oven on the right side is large enough for just about anything one might imagine cooking. The castle was home to the Counts of Gruyere through most of the middle ages.

In the early 20th century some strange things started happening around the castle of Gruyeres. Not strange like ghosts, but strange like art. It started with a family of artists taking over the castle, and bringing in more of their artist friends to decorate the place. This dining hall (4) is now resplendant with scenes from the history of Gruyeres, although some of them are perhaps a bit over-dramatized. This actually isn't all that strange and adds to the ...