Swiss memories

The very first stamp on my very first passport had the name of Switzerland on it. Thus, next to the land of my birth, Switzerland was the country I loved next. Because my mom Sonia always told me that it was her dream destination, Switzerland was always first on my bucket list.

I shrieked in utter joy and anticipation when, in 1988, my then boss Press Secretary Teddy Benigno told me that I was traveling to Switzerland that June to cover the official visit of President Cory Aquino. I remember rushing to the phone and calling my mom to tell her of my prized assignment. I was going to live her dream.

My very first overseas trip was work, alright, but work did not detract from the natural beauty of Switzerland. As our plane was approaching Geneva, I happened to look outside my window and lo and behold, the snow-capped Alps gave me a warm welcome to the land of my mother’s dreams (she has since fulfilled that dream).

A picturesque view of Lake Geneva from Riex.

I returned to Switzerland ever so briefly in 2014 for another work-related trip, but it wasn’t till May this year, almost 20 years to the month since I first laid eyes on the Alps, did I return for a truly nostalgic journey. This time I wasn’t working, just chilling with my husband Ed and son Chino.

Upon the recommendation of Olivier Guggisberg of Switzerland Tourism, who I met at a function in Manila, I got in touch with Swiss Moments, an agency specializing in personalized tours. Its head Eliane Prescher tailor-made our itinerary according to our wish list and budget. Eliane came up with an itinerary that was as smooth as Swiss milk chocolate, with the help of our tour guide Richard Gubler, who was affable and knowledgeable.

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What better way to kick start our tour than with a visit to a chocolate factory in Vevey!

The Swiss say their chocolates are the best because of the quality of the milk from their pampered cows. Land-locked Switzerland, according to Richard, has 8.3 million people and 1.6 million cows!

We had an amazing multi-sensory experience at the Maison Cailler chocolate factory, which was founded by Francois-Louis Cailler in 1819 and bought by Nestlé (which has 283,000 employees worldwide, including the Philippines) in 1929. Cailler is the oldest Swiss chocolate brand still in existence. During our 90-minute tour, we were taken to different tableaus depicting the origins of chocolate and to an assembly line where chocolates awaited us — tasting allowed!

Slightly heady with the taste and aroma of chocolates (a chocolate store with factory prices awaited us at the end of the tour, and it was like we were at Willy Wonka’s), we were in for more gustatory pleasures.

Charlie Chaplin’s mansion in Vevey.

After Maison Cailler, we had a delicious raclette lunch in Gruyères, a hilltop medieval town after which the famous cheese is named. The tab for the delicious raclette lunch (with pearl onions, baby potatoes and pickles on the side), paired with white wine at an authentic Swiss café by the town square was 100 Swiss francs (about P5,400) for three people — fair warning that Switzerland’s beauty doesn’t come cheap. Anyway, the lunch consisted of three bars of cheese (as long but not as thick as a gold bar), most of which we couldn’t finish. So, we had the unmelted portion wrapped and it survived our five-day tour and found its way to our dining room in Manila. From then on, we knew how to order in Swiss restaurants or simply confined ourselves to sandwiches from Migros or Coop. We reserved our best meal for dinner.

At the pinnacle of Gruyères, the 13th-century Chateau de Gruyères reigns supreme. But just a stone’s throw away from this ancient fortress is a citadel of the future — the HR  Giger Museum, which shows artwork related to the film Alien created by the late Zurich-based artist. The museum is full of well, aliens — or representations of them, that is. Come to think of it, at that moment in time, we were also “aliens” in Switzerland.

The author at the Maison Cailler chocolate factory in Vevey.

After swinging from the 13th century to the future in a little cobblestoned town, we were in for another timeless activity: wine tasting at the private vineyard of Marc et Jean Duboux in Riex, in the UNESCO World Heritage wine region of Lavaux. Here, the vines were planted on terraces, just like how rice was planted in terraces in northern Philippines.

From the vineyards, we motored to the charming city of Lausanne. Our hotel, Hôtel de la Paix, had a front-seat view of the Old Town and the lake. Switzerland is full of such vistas, you could wake up each morning in a good mood — because virtually wherever you look, the panorama before you is a greeting from God.

That evening, we walked from the hotel to the city square where we had a delicious dinner at Café du Grütli. I had one of my best fish dishes ever, pike perch fillet.

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Raclette lunch at La Fleur de Lys restaurant in Gruyères.

The following day, Richard drove through the picturesque region between Lake Geneva and the world-famous ski resort village of Gstaad. We stopped at the Charlie Chaplin Museum, a lakeside manor where the iconic comic actor spent the last days of his life in happy exile. We then marveled at the 12th-century Chillon Castle near Montreux, called an “island castle” because there is only a very narrow passage along its shores. From afar, the castle, Switzerland’s most visited, looks like it rose from the lake.

After about 2 1/2 hours, we arrived in Gstaad for our close-up with the Alps.

(To be concluded.)

(For inquiries, Swiss Moments may be reached through [email protected] or through +41 (0)443874141.)