Canton map of Switzerland
When my boyfriend came up with an idea of moving from Zermatt to district of Gruyère the first question that popped into my mind was: where the hell is that exactly? So after doing some research …First of course you have to know that Gruyère is one of seven districts of Fribourg. There is about as many habitants in Gruyère as there are in Puławy in Poland, where I come from…Not that many. About 50 000 people. To bring you even closer:
Canton Fribourg map
The green part is Gruyère. It’s green as on the map, pretty as anything else you can think of and it is where we live now. It’s popular with tourists since there’s quite a big choice of activities that can be enjoyed. Everything for everyone:
- hiking
Gorge of Jogne
- climbing and hiking around Gastlosen
Gastlosen
- paragliding
Paragliding in Charmey
- via ferrata
Via ferrata fun
- swimming, kayaking or chilling by the lakes
Beautiful view on Tour de Lac
There’s much more to it. Museums, chocolate factories, cheese factories, tons of good restaurants, skiing in winter… Just to name a few.
Just don’t forget. They do speak French here so if you are like me and not such a big French lover you might need to go to Jaun (little village in the district) to speak a bit of German. They do speak German there, just a bit of funny not easy to understand Jaun Deutsch.
And just so you know: when you live here you hate the Vaudois (people who live in the next canton – Vaud), especially a driving Vaudois (you seriously do hate them only when you see them driving), seeing a VD plate gives you shivers, you laugh (sometimes) at the way they speak (I don’t, I’m Polish, prolly my accent is even worse).
Tradition is strong here and that’s what makes it special. Bénichon, Désalpes and many more are celebrated yearly all over the district.
That would be a first lesson. More to come up. I will bring you closer to Gruyère or Gruyère closer to you.
Text: Agnieszka Wajs
