Photographing Gruyere

Gruyere, Oh yummy Gruyere!!!

I could not wait to visit Gruyere. Being one of my favourite cheese, I had to put this location early on my list of places to visit.

Image 1 - Gruyere Cheese Factory

The access is very easy from Lausanne, with a 15 minute train ride until Palezieux and then a "street car" ride through the real countryside of Switzerland. Oh, and you will know exactly the moment that you arrive in Gruyere, it is in the air! 


The Gruyere region has 4 main attractions: 
    1 - The medieval Chateau at the top of the village circulated by its walls
    2 - Gruyere cheese factory - La maison du Gruyere
    3 - The Chocolate factory - which is only open during the spring/ summer months 
    4 - The Lac Gruyere with its beautiful views of the valley and the Alps background


I have picked two out of the four attractions to focus during this day trip: the cheese factory and the Lac Gruyere. I will come back to indulge in chocolate and the Chateau in the near future.


I arrived early in the village and even though I was not focusing on the chateau, I did take the opportunity to walk outside the walls and appreciate the beauty of the region. During this walk I noticed the church and decided to stop by and make some interior shots.

Image 2 - Gruyere Church

Image 3 - Gruyere Church inside

Image 4 - Gruyere Church from the entrance

The sun was high up and there was enough light coming inside the church. The sun rays coming through the wonderful decorated stained glasses made for a nice abstract image.

Image 4 - Stained Glass abstract

 After the church I sat on a bench to eat a snack and just relax taking in all the views. My cellphone rang and I got the sad news about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It made me reflect and be even more thankful for the opportunities that I am having during this sabbatical. It definitely puts things into perspective. 


After a deep breath and recomposing myself, I climbed down the trail in the direction of the train station - I should mention that there are 2 ways to arrive at the medieval Gruyere village, one is a very steep short trail further left of the train tracks, and the other is a very steep long  trail right after you cross the train tracks. I recommend climbing up the short one and climbing down the long one, the only downfall from this plan is that the short one takes you to a side entrance to the village - The Maison du Gruyere where they have cheese production demo is just across from the train station. You can decide to start or end your visit in this location.


I did not take the full tour that they offer because I got mesmerized by the cheese display that they have right at the entrance of the site. 

Behind the glasses, it is cheese paradise!!!      

Image 5 - Maison du Gruyere - My personal cheese paradise! 

Wow! I was really going crazy with all the possibilities of photographing the piles and piles of Gruyere cheese.  In this display, the Maison du Gruyere shows you side by side the 2 different methods to cure the cheese. On the right side there is the machine that adds the salted water to the cheese, and on the left side the manual effort to do the same process. The exhibit changes according to the need of the cheese process - check out the time and more information on the official website. 
http://www.lamaisondugruyere.ch/

Image 6 - Automated cheese cure

Image 7 - Manual cheese cure

The main thing to pay attention when photographing at the front display of La Maison du Gruyere is for the glass reflection. Position your camera as close as possible to the glass, if you still have reflection as I had, use a cloth to cover it up. In my case, I used my body and my winter jacket to ensure that the glass was free of reflection. If you have someone else to help it might work better because the middle exhibit was impossible for just myself to cover up the full area.

Image 8 - Reflex free cheese storage unit

I think I have overstayed my time in front of the display because next thing I know the Fromagieur left the display and came to talk to me. After clarifying that I was not from any newspaper and the images were not going be sold, he invited me to check their traditional cheese storage unit in Charmey (about 15 minutes from Gruyere). HOORAY!!!


In Charmey, they had not only Gruyere cheese but also Vacherin d'Alpage. I could walk in the middle and touch all the cheeses. It was fantastic! This location was rustic with wooden ceiling and rock walls.

Image 9 - Trying to hold the 50kg (about 100lbs) Gruyere cheese

The space was much smaller not allowing for so many pictures, but it was totally worth the experience! Especially the tasting after the visit. Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!

Image 10 - La Maison du Gruyere in Charmey

Well, it was time to move on to the second part of my visit to Gruyere, the Lac Gruyere at sunset. I went back to the train station and took a train to Bulle, the largest nearby town. From there I had selected the location of Morlon on Google Earth to photograph the lake with some beach area in the foreground and the Alps in the background with the nice sunset light to complete. 


In small locations, trains and buses only run every hour, so you have to allow yourself enough time to move from one location to another if you are not driving. After waiting for some time, I caught the bus to Morlon, then I hiked down to Lake Gruyere. The close I was getting to the lake, the weirdest that it looked. Well, if you have read my posting about Google Earth, you already know what happend here... The lake was COMPLETELY dry!!! I have found out later that this is an artificial lake, so because of the mild winter and the absence of rain, the water has been used for other purposes. I did take some pictures while standing in the middle of the lake as a reminder to myself to ask around before making plans, especially when it involves steep hiking trails! 

Image 11 - Lac Gruyere dryness

Image 12 - Standing in the middle of what it was suppose to be Lac Gruyere

Image 13 - No sign of Lac Gruyere on this direction...

I climbed back to Morlon and I had some waiting time before the next bus back to Brulle. So, I just went inside of the local church. Quite charming! 

Image 14 - Morlon's Church

I made it back to Lausanne with my gear bag heavier... I had bought about half a kilo of the real Gruyere cheese!!! It was cheese bonanza day!