26 cantons – 1 canton every 2 months: starting with…Bern

Here I am again! I know my goal was to post once a month but sometimes life just catches up and this is just what happened to me in March and April leaving me with no time to dedicate to my beloved blog!

Anyway, I am back and with a cool new category! You know I named my blog “Heidi goes travelling” for two reasons: 1) I live in Switzerland, Heidi’s home country; 2) I L-O-V-E my country (aka Switzerland) and wandering around scouting its gems!! Though Switzerland is not very vast, you have a wide variety of landscapes and cities so I thought it would be very cool to introduce you to each of the 26 cantons constituting the country, every two months. So welcome to the newest category of this blog: 26 Swiss cantons!

But some may ask “what exactly is a canton?” The cantons are the member states of the Swiss Confederation/Switzerland.

And to “officially” (I actually started exploring Switzerland a few months ago, travelling to Solothurn and Schaffhausen) launch this new category what would be better than to introduce you to canton Bern, home to Switzerland’s capital-city Bern (yes, I know same name than the canton)?! However there is a little twist 😉 I am not going to introduce you to the capital-city but to one of the cutest little city, hidden on the shores of the Bielersee …

A few days ago, in celebration of Mother’s Day, we travelled to Ligerz, a charming wine-producing village nestled on the shores of the Bielersee. Tiny cobbled streets, flowered balconies everywhere and this “hauterive” pale yellow stone – typical of this northwest region of Switzerland – of which all the houses and public buildings are built of, creating a warm and cosy atmosphere. So pretty! I was swept away immediately!

This one-day adventure was also perfect due to the sun-filled, springy weather ideal to take advantage of the gorgeous landscape surrounding Ligerz, including its many vineyards. The village and its neighbourhood have a real laid-back pace giving you the feeling to be holidaying somewhere in the Mediterranean.

About these vineyards, it’s a secret that will not be kept for much longer but Switzerland is a wine-producing country. You have at least 26 different wines, one per canton. The canton of Bern being no exception: the shores of the Bielersee are filled with vineyards producing a savoury Pinot Noir (red wine) or Chasselas (white wine), which we had the pleasure to taste at the restaurant where we had lunch.

We had lunch in Ligerz, at the restaurant “Les Trois Amis”. Let’s talk about this place. The food there was simply delicious! Very creative and cooked only from local ingredients. I can only recommend this restaurant. Plus, the staff was very welcoming and helpful (which is unfortunately not massively common in Switzerland).

The more I travel to this district of northwest Switzerland the more I love it! It is really one of the country’s prettiest! I can only recommend a visit to this lovely region!

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