Neuchâtel Switzerland - Ballade Gourmande

Immediately after finishing our cycling trip in the Netherlands, we flew to Switzerland where Bryn and Hervé had arranged that we participate in the Ballade Gourmande, the Neuchâtel regional festival featuring the best of its wine and food.

The Ballade Gourmande is a 5 km walk through the scenic countryside with stops for each part of a 7 course meal. Since it starts at 10:30 AM, we would call it a 7 course brunch. Many families take part in this popular yearly event.




Bryn, Hervé, Brandon, Paul and Alicia (in the stroller). A bus took us up the mountain to the secret starting point. We were given wine glasses and route maps to follow so that we could find each course.



We started the Ballade at a tower on the property of the castle above Boudry. The tour began with an appetizer...local sliced sausage canapes and local sparkling wine...or mineral water.


A distant view of the starting point from the valley below.

From the castle in Boudry, we walked down to the Areuse torrent with its waterfalls.


This is the vegetable course, a delicious terrine with peas, carrots, leeks...

Brandon and friends posing while we lined up for the main course...local perch barbequed in foil packages with bread and wine.


The grapes look ready to harvest. Every time I looked at them, Bryn reminded me that it is against the law to sample them.

Brandon and friends walking with the family and working up an appetite. The children were given water bottles to carry.

Paul, resting between courses overlooking the Courtaillod grape vines and Lake Neuchâtel. Around his neck is a wine tasting glass. It's a handy way to keep your own glass as you travel to each course. Next stop is the cheese course.

At every stop there was local wine to accompany the course.
The next to last course was dessert and coffee.


The last part of the 5 km walk. We were rewarded with truffles at the end.


Just in case we forgot, there was a table at the end demonstrating each course we were supposed to have sampled.


Comments

Megan said…
Wow -- that's the best hike idea I've ever seen. Looks fantastic. ...Megan.
September 17, 2007 at 10:01 a.m.
Mark & Margot said…
That sounds like a lot of fun. Almost like a treasure hunt for food. I wish they had something like that here.

We got some wine grapes in our farm share last week, and they are actually quite sour.
September 17, 2007 at 2:39 p.m.
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