Over the mountains, through the countryside to castles and chocolate

May 24, 2025

And to the heated pools

Today we started off on our first real day of our tour. 36.6 miles and 3862 feet of elevation gain were in our future for today. We headed through Vevy and up into the hills to ride through the beautiful Swiss countryside dotted with little towns. Our first stop was in Gryuere to have cheese fondue for lunch and visit the castle. Then it was on to Maison Callier to tour the chocolate factory and buy some of their wonderful chocolate to fuel our rides. Then is was up and over the Juan mountain pass to ride to our hotel for the night. By the time we got to our hotel we were running low on power and were very thankful to be there. The hotel has three heated bubbly pools with views of the alps. We luxuriated in their warm waters to smooth our tired muscles. It was wonderful.

Up the hills as we worked our way to Gryuere

Views back toward lake Geneva as we headed away

We rode through many little farm yards along the way

After riding up a steep hill to Gryuere we found the bike racks parked our bikes and set to explore

Gryuere is a tiny one street village set on top of a steep hill that looks out over the valley and far mountains

As we were walking into Gryuere in our high vis yellow jackets two women walked by us. One said to the other, “ When we get old we can wear matching jackets too.”… we had a good laugh …..

Looking out across the valley from Gryuere castle

Gruyère castle was built in the 13th century and was the home of the counts of Gruyère during the Middle Ages. It was originally constructed as a fortified castle but extensive work in the 15th and 16th centuries turned it into a stately residence.

The drawing room included several wall medallion paintings by Corot

In 1849 the convoy brothers acquired the castle making it their summer retreat. They set up an artists colony and invited renown artists such as Jean Baptiste Coyote to visit. Much of the artwork in the castle dates from that time.

Fabulous tapestry in one of the bedrooms

As we were leaving the castle down the street came this group carrying their alphorns.

The music they made was low legato and melodious. Very nice! The alphorns used to be used as a form of communication from high alp field to the village and from field to field.

We visited the Callier chocolate factory, they make fabulous chocolates!

This building houses two heated spa pools and partially surrounds an outdoor pool.

Tomorrow we head to Gstaad, there should be slightly less climbing….

Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 292 miles (470 km)

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