Triple CCC, The Recipe for Travel Decadence

If you love to travel as I do you will enjoy a day trip to somewhere special. If you are lucky the day trip becomes almost like a home run in the baseball world. Stay with me as the story unfolds.

While visiting my dear friend Lisa in Lausanne, Switzerland, she planned a day trip. Knowing Lisa, this adventure will be amazing therefore, I turned over the plan for the day to her and took a deep breath.

Driving by car, we headed towards Montreux, flanked by the blue water of Lake Geneva, which is located in the French-speaking canton of Vaud. If the lake was not mesmerizing enough the vineyards were perfectly laid upon the hillside as if they were handmade Persian carpets. Ah, another deep breath.

The highway bends north, and we soon cross over to the canton of Fribourg.  Check box #2 of the 26 Cantons of Switzerland in 1 hour.  Indeed, Switzerland has mountains everywhere but I find myself absorbing the lush green fields backlit with very tall snowcapped peaks. A quick check of the map as I see we are headed to Gruyères.

Pushing forward we are on the edge of the Gruyères hill where the views across to the Moléson, the Dent de Broc, and the Vanils mountain range present their allure. Only a short drive from Lausanne, approximately 58 minutes, we are arriving at the first of our “Triple C” – CHEESE. Cheese-making is a centuries-old tradition in Gruyère.  More on this later.

Conveniently we found public parking at the end of Rue du Bourg in Gruyère and made our way deep into this intriguing village on foot. It was still early morning as the sunlight make the dew on the green hills sparkle like crystals. The village street is graced with houses, restaurants, and shops characteristically maintained in Swiss architecture. The mission I am told is our second “C” of the Triple “C”, this being, CASTLE. If you have never visited Switzerland you will find many majestically preserved castles and churches.

As the Rue du Bourg ascends, we reach the Castle of Gruyères.   This beauty is one of the most famous in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance with 800 years of history dating back to 1270.

Lisa and I walked the courtyard and castle.  Sitting up high on the castle wall the Moléson provides the backdrop for the panoramic view and the Église Saint-Théodule. On this day the clouds were plentiful and they dipped into the valley dropping a scenic haze over the town while exposing peaks of the mountain range in the distance.

Gruyère was not our final destination for this day so we did not linger. We took a deep breath and returned to Rue du Bourg. We did soak in the street sights and sounds but our schedule did not allow for any museum visitation.  Time was now pressing into late morning and we had one more stop before we were back on the road.

Remember I spoke earlier of “C” CHEESE”. Well, here it comes. There is a whole day’s lesson on cheese tastings and tours. We cheated, took a short cut to La Chaudière Fromagerie Crèmerie, purchased various types of Gruyeres cheese, a lovely French baguette, through conversation we received a short lesson on different types of Gruyeres. Who knew, depending on if the cow if fed in the upper pastures or lower pastures this affect the cheese flavor? Switzerland is serious about their cheese. Said merci beaucoup to the very nice Cremerie clerk, exit, and sat on a bench to enjoy our CHEESE selections.

Time check because we had an appointment for the 3^rd and final “C” on the Triple “C” tour. Although only a 12 minute or 6.6km drive we are excited to arrive at Maison Cailler in the town of Broc.

How many times have you passed through duty-free and scooped up those Swiss Chocolates to bring to family and friends? Chances are the yummy ones were from the famous Cailler Chocolatey.

“C” number 3, bring us to, CHOCOLATE! Now I confess, chocolate is my Achilles heel so this stop will prove to be my crown jewel.

Of course, we took the factory tour, about 1 hr. in length, dipped with cocoa history, business mergers, secret chocolate recipes, and much to do about its founder, François-Louis Cailler.  Cailler is Switzerland’s oldest chocolate brand still in existence. Informative and entertaining and commencing with an unlimited tasting room filled with servings of gastronomic varieties of chocolate bars that would make even Willy Wonka jealous. I did say unlimited tastings, didn’t I?

Have you had enough chocolate yet?  No, you say, well hang on, I am approaching the crescendo.

Entering our next room, we experience the most modernly crafted culinary kitchen, well lit, with individual cooking stations of the shiniest stainless-steel worktops, induction burners, and many pans and cooking aids. For a cooking gadget head like me, I really found my Christmas.  Our hands-on workshop with the finest chocolatiers in the world is about to begin.

You guessed it, we are going to make our very own signature, one of a kind ganache chocolate.  Manning our personal cooking station, we dawn our Chef hats and aprons. Looking like official chocolatiers, we were lectured in the techniques and nuances of the delicate preparation of chocolates.

Suddenly we were presented with carts of ingredients and liqueurs and our inner chocolatier super-personalities were released. Eyes growing wide, Lisa and I are about to explode with creative ideas on mixing chocolates and liqueurs. We are given a palette of 3 chocolates to spin our final products. Side by side we consult and create, lick spoons and the laughter and enjoyment never stops.

The result, well we exited with signature Cailler Chef hats and aprons and packaged our personally prepared truffles in beautifully appointed Cailler gift size bags, perfect for the treasure to take home. Memories of a forever fun day with one of your besties on an international adventure.

OH, need I add here I did skip duty-free this trip!

TRIPLE “C” Castles, Cheese and Chocolate will feed my soul forever.

Note, I do my best to share my experience. As I cannot write about everything, I try to incorporate links for you to follow and learn more. I hope you enjoy this blog and encourage you to subscribe to my blog email list and happy if you would leave a comment on the blog page also. Let me know, were you entertained, did you feel as if you were along on the trip with me and Lisa, would you visit my blog again.