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We are Stefanie, Sabine, Evelin, Nadine, Tina and Celia, the six trainees from Switzerland Tourism. Trainees on Tour is a project launched by us to introduce the Grand Tour of Switzerland to our generation (the 20-30 year olds). In two groups we went out to discover the most beautiful places, to find exciting and fun activities, to spot top hotels and restaurants, and much much more. Stefanie, Sabine and Evelin covered the parts of western Switzerland and focused their activities on culture and culinary travel. Nadine, Tina and Celia ventured out to eastern and southern Switzerland to get off the beaten track and to be active in the region's pristine nature. Check out our website with further information: www.myswitzerland.com/roadtrip
Showing posts with label Vineyards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vineyards. Show all posts

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Along the Lake of Geneva

On the next morning, we drove from Aigle to the Chillon Castle. It's one of the most beautiful castles of Switzerland and is situated directly onto the sea. To admire that, we stopped at the parking above and while Sabine waited with Paul & Paula, Evelin went to the seaside to take some nice pictures. With this amazing view, you don't need to be a professional photographer to take extraordinary shoots.
If you have time, we strongly recommend the visit of the castle!
Chillon Castle.
If you're interested in more castles, there is the association of the Swiss Castles.

Evelin's walk to the castle of Chillon:

If you want, you can also discover the region from the seaside.

Then we continued our Grand Tour going to the Lavaux vineyard terraces, an Unesco World Heritage. As we arrived there, we understand why it is classified by Unesco!

Grand Tour of Switzerland, this way please!

At Chexbres we made a stop. We looked for a parking place and fortunately we even found two free spaces to park Paul & Paula.
Paul & Paula waiting at the parking.
Lovely little houses in Chexbres.

That's the totally amazing view you have from Chexbres over the Lavaux and the lake of Geneva! And we promise, we didn't put a filter or Photoshop to take this picture!
Amazing view over the Lavaux and the lake of Geneva.
Discovering the vineyards in Lavaux.
We walked through the village and looked for a cave. If you are in the Lavaux, you definitely have to taste some local wine! There is no excuse because in this region you have caves just everywhere.
We looked around and decided to go to the "Domaine Bovy". We choose this cave because of it's comfortable terrace situated in a huge garden in front of the edifice.
Our little paradise on earth.

Selection of wine from the cave (the second from the right even won a golden medal).
You can have a drink on the terrace or even buy some wine directly by the producer. We took a white wine as it was "Apéro-Time".
Try some local wine is a must do!
We also had the pleasure to meet the producer and his brother. They explained us the story of the cave and you immediately see that they are passionate of their work. We could have an insight into the cave with its huge barrels filled with wine. On each barrel, there is a different painting. These were painted by the grandfather of the owner.
Barrels of wine with paintings of the job as a wine-producer.
On Thursdays you even have a "tapas evening" from 5 pm to 9pm.

After our drink we decided to have lunch at the Café de la Poste.

Restaurant "Café de la Poste"
Terrace of the "Café de la Poste" with a fantastic view over the lake.

Some impressions of the view while driving through the Lavaux:

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Trough the vineyards

After Zermatt, we continued our journey onwards to the Rhone valley, named after the river flowing through. The Rhone river starts at the Aletsch galcier, the biggest alpine glacier, and transits through the whole Valais to the lake of Geneva.

On the road passing Turtmann (a small municipality):


In the village of Susten we went up on a little road going onto the "wine trail" that starts from Leuk and goes to Martigny. At the starting point in Leuk, you can admire the medieval Bishops palace. There is a parking space just next to the castle, so it's worth making a stop there, even if it's only to savor the view over the vineyards, the Pfyn Forest and the Ilhorn.
Castle of Leuk.

Sight over the vineyards, the Pfyn Forest and the Illhorn.

Little stop on our way in Varen.


If you have time, there are many walking possibilities through the vineyards.
You can easily understand why the people living in Valais have an "Apéro-culture" (meaning enjoying a glass of white wine and some snacks before dinner). As far as you can see, there are vineyards with caves at every corner and many good places to taste wine.
For example the town of Varen is famous for it's wine caves.
Wineyards as far you can see!

We decided to make a little stop to have lunch. What's better than having fine specialties from the region in this little paradise?

Enjoying a picnic in the vineyards.


Picnic with regional specialties.

In Switzerland you just have to take the time to look around to discover the small beauties!


After our appetising lunch we continued our big adventure. A little check on our Grand Tour map and we on we went!
Sabine checking out the way on our Grand  Tour map.
100% Grand Tour Feeling !
View over Salgesch and the Rhone valley.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Graubünden - Culinary Bike Tour

The drive from Wasserauen to Bad Ragaz led us over the Schwägalp Pass a beautiful crossing from the Appenzell Region to the St. Gallen Region. We suggest to make a quick stop to breath in the fresh alpine air and take a few pictures.
On the way from Wasserauen to Bad Ragaz.
Upon arrival in Bad Ragaz we made our way to the local tourist office to start our Culinary Bike Tour through the "Bündner Herrschaft". The Bündner Herrschaft is a scenic area dotted with small villages and lots of vineyards. At the tourist office we received the vouchers for the different restaurant stops as well as a map with directions. Our fist stop was the local bike shop where we got our bicycles. The tour took us to the Heididorf  (the place where Heidi lived) in Maienfeld. After the strenuous ascent we were looking forward to a refreshing Rivella and the starter of our three course lunch.

Starter at Hotel Heidihof

We continued our tour towards the village of Malans and crossed many more vineyards.

Vineyards between Maienfeld and Malans
The main course was served in the beautiful garden of the Hotel Krone in Malans and desert back in Bad Ragaz at the Schlosshotel.
Capuns - a traditional dish of the region - made from dough with pieces of dried meat and rolled in a chard leaf.

Overall the tour was a really good combination of sport and enjoyment. On the way back from Malans, Celia's bike broke down and we were already afraid that we had to walk all the way back. But thanks to the great service of the local bike shop we got another bike for her in just a few minutes.

The gear shift broke but our journey continued
The bike tour through the vine yards in the "Bündner Herrschaft" are a must for all nature lovers. The culinary stops are a nice supplement you can book with 10% discount with the code "TraineesOnTour" (Call Center +41 (0)81 720 08 20).