All over Switzerland, fondue cruises are scheduled by lake (and some Rhine river) boat companies from October through the spring months. Some, like the boats plying the lakes of Thun and Brienz in canton Bern, offer a selection of fondues, such as the popular moitié-moitié (half Gruyère, half Vacherin Fribourgeois), an option with herbs and another with mushrooms. Others, like the Lake Lucerne cruise ships, offer diners the choice between fondue and raclette. Raclette is also a cheese dish - melted cheese is served on a plate with small potatoes boiled in their jackets, pickles and pickled pearl onions.
On some cruises, the fare and price of the fondue are combined, with others the ticket and meal are paid separately, but prices across the board end up totaling around 60 Swiss francs ($58), excluding drinks, per adult.
‘’Festival Des Fondues’’ On Lake Geneva
Starting with Lake Geneva, Switzerland’s - indeed western Europe’s - biggest lake: the Companie Générale de Navigation (CGN), which runs the fondue cruises, serves fondues twice weekly until June 11, 2010. Chinese fondue (more expensive than the cheese) is served on Thursday nights, and cheese fondue on Friday.
The illustration shows the festival poster representing a Chinese dragon and a Swiss cow in a floating caquelon (fondue pot). The dragon rows the vessel with chopsticks, the cow with fondue forks. The dragon brags about the ‘’unforgettable’’ Chinese fondue. The cow testily replies by telling the dragon to ‘’shut up and row’’ adding that what people really can’t wait for is the cheese fondue.
Lac Léman cruises depart from Geneva City, and Morges and Lausanne in canton Vaud, between 7 and 8 p.m., returning between 10 and 11 p.m.
Fondue Cruises In Bern And The Zurich Area
Cruises on the Bernese lakes of Brienz and Thun leave from Interlaken at 7:30 p.m., and Thun at 6:50 p.m., returning after nine. Check out the dates at bls.ch.
Lake of Zurich fondue cruises depart from Bürkliplatz in Zurich City at 7 p.m., returning at 9:30 p.m.. Dates are from October 6 through December 22, 2009 and then again from January 5 through April 27, 2010 – more at zsg.ch. Cruises on the lake in the neighboring canton of Zug leave from the town of Zug at 7:45 every Friday night except November 20 and December 25, returning at 10:15 p.m. Zugersee-schifffahrt.ch has more information.
Cruises On The Rhine And Lake Constance
For Basel options, log on to baslerpersonenschifffahrt.ch: they have ‘’Fondue mit Musik’’ evenings, with departures from Basel Rheinhafen at 6:45 p.m. returning at 10:30. They also have somewhat more expensive ‘’Fondue und Weindegustation’’ (winetasting) cruises leaving from the same place at 6:15 and returning at 11 p.m.
North of Zurich, stoll-schifffahrten.ch runs fondue cruises on the Rhine river, leaving from the city of Schaffhausen. In 2009, there is a dinner cruise on October 23 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Cruises on November 8 and 22 fill lunch slots from noon to 3 p.m.
Another company, hunziker-schiffsbetrieb.ch, has scheduled fondue cruises on October 25, November 22, and December 6, 2009, from noon to 3 p.m. These leave from Stein am Rhein (canton Schaffhausen). To check the 2010 schedule for these cruises on the company website, look under ‘’Jahresprogramm’’.
On nearby Bodensee (Lake Constance), fondue cruises leaving from Romanshorn in canton Thurgau at 7:40 p.m., and returning at 9:25 p.m., are run by sbsag.ch and are regularly scheduled from October 31, 2009 through February 27, 2010.
Combine Fondue And ‘’Klausjagen’’ In December
Over on Lake Lucerne, the ‘’fondue and raclette boat’’ runs on Fridays from October 23, 2009 through March 26, 2010, departing Lucerne at 7:21 p.m. and returning at 9:25 p.m. On December 4, a steamboat does the run in honor of ‘’Klausjagen’’ in Küssnacht am Rigi. Cruise diners can get off the boat to attend the remarkable event, which kicks off at 8:15 p.m., then catch the boat later for the return.
A St Nicolas celebration, ‘’Klausjagen’’ is one of Switzerland’s more spectacular gatherings at which parading whipcrackers, horn players and men bouncing massive cow bells off one knee then the other create an unholy din in the pitch dark. The only light is that provided by torchbearers and whirling, bobbing beings clad in white who wear extraordinary head gear lit by candles from the inside. The hats, called ‘’Iffelen’’, are decorated with intricate scenes that look like stained glass windows. To get a feel for the celebration it is worth watching the video on the ‘’Klausjagen’’ site. More about the cruise at lakelucerne.ch.
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