Gruyeres castle,trout fishing, feasting and chilling in Switzerland

The 2nd part of road trip, after camping in France, was in Switzerland, where we spent five magical days in Zweissimen, a pretty quaint village in the Bernese Oberland region. This was our fifth trip to Switzerland, it was Shahaar’s first international trip when he was 8 weeks old, and every time we have spent it up in a lovely chalet Zimmerbode, up in the Swiss Alps.

You can get here from either Zurich or Geneva, takes about 3 hours. We have travelled both by car and train and both journeys are very scenic. There are some great places to visit nearby, some of which we have visited in past trips including Lake Thun, one of the best skiing resorts Gstaad and the medieval town of Gruyere.

The energy in this place is very special, it’s like being frozen in time, every time we go, the same feelings of happiness and relaxation takes over us the moment we get there and stays that way the entire time we are there. I know a lot of it has to do with the special people- both old and new- we get to bond with while there..big thank you to our friends Rubai and Liz, and Liz’s Dad for enabling us to be here, time and time again.

Most things are very expensive in Switzerland but the wine and beer we always get were cheap. Kids played outside whenever the weather permitted, we didn’t have the best of weathers this time unfortunately. However we still managed to have few excursions out, lovely walk to the stream, trout fishing, visiting a castle, flying rockets at night and visiting nearby farm to see the cows.

Just a tiny glimpse of what we saw and experienced around us – feasting on good food and wine

        Chilling outside and enjoying the amazing mountain views

        Trout Fishing – Caught a big one!

There were different people coming in and out of Zimmerbode throughout the past 3 weeks and the biggest group was when we were there – 20 people!

This time we also went to visit Gruyere Castle and I wanted to share some more useful information about our day excursion there as it definitely worth visiting if you are in the local area. Here are some of the reasons why:

It is as cheap (or expensive) as you want it to be, and still be able to do loads. Besides enjoying panaromic views all around –

there was much to do just around the castle grounds. There were two very interesting museums – Giger Museum and the Tibetan Museum. Sharp contrast to one another, but both quite interesting!

Even if you don’t visit the museums, it’s worth visiting the pub next to the museum, very strange and psychadelic!

It is free to visit the castle grounds and we enjoyed walking along the castle wall and cobbled streets, window shopping several quaint shops, seeing all the free artwork and there are also plenty of restaurants (they were quite expensive though).

The castle itself cost 10 Euro for Adults, 3 Euro for children, cheaper than many castles we have here in England. And definitely worth the price as there is lots to see inside. The castle had several interesting rooms with antiques and beautiful paintings, the maze garden outside was lovely, and there was also a separate area with really cool psychedelic art. It is possible to spend a good number of hours here.

Overall, a very child friendly place, had a lovely play area with the most scenic views! Wide alleyways, grassy open areas, large courtyard. Easy to break up the inner castle tour with lot of outside playtime.

All in all a wonderful five days, now completely rejuvenated and excited about hitting the road again – we dropped off our friend Richard in Zurich on 31st and set off for our next destination, a new country for us – Austria. This next part was made all the more special because we get to attend our good friends Alti and Marlene wedding there! Onwards to Innsbruck, Austria!