1) Gruyeres

We had set our sights on a city called Gruyeres (of the cheese fame) and were heading for it when we saw an amazing walled city on a hill (as pictured in the last blog). Little did we know, that walled city was indeed Gruyeres.

The city itself is basically built around a castle – Saint-Germain Castle – and now houses many restaurants and other shops catering to tourists. It is a very cute little town and has spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.

Oh, yes, I may have forgotten that Saint-Germain Castle was acquired in 1998 by artist H.R. Giger and it currently houses an art gallery/museum of his work.

2) Giger

This was the real reason we were in Gruyeres – not for the cheese. 🙂

Next to the gallery there is also a coffee shop that has been fitted out in Giger inspired designs.

Once we got over the amazingness of Gruyeres and the Giger exhibition, we continued on to Geneva. On the way, we realised that Switzerland does in fact have an adequate amount of cowbell.

3) Geneva

Geneva was our last stop in Switzerland and a fantastic one. We have made it a rule to not drive at night, so we make sure we’ve checked in to our accommodation long before that. We pushed the envelope a little with Geneva and ended up getting back well after dark. Night time in Geneva does have some good points, though.

As we strolled around Geneva in the fading light, the sunset was amazing! We also found a square where some of the cobblestones had been replaced with illuminated ones with slogans on them in different languages. We also had dinner in the old town and strolled around the trendy part of town as well.

Although it was only a very short stay, our next move is on to Italy and some amazing places await us there!