Bellelay - the place where the Wild Boar was commemorated

Difficult where to look - the newly renovated Abbaie de Bellelay is simple beautiful. All in white, with no furniture in at all, but an enormous recontructed Pipe Organ, one can only immagine what a monumental experience 300 years ago it must have been for a simple peasant to enter the cathedral! 200 years ago the French revolution raided the place, decorations and furniture were removed, and some have since been refound in other churches in the region, and in the museum in La Chaux de Fonds. Until the 1950th, the cathedral was then used as a barn just like in Stalin's Soviet Union, until renovated and reopened in the 1960th. The pipe organ fanatic Bernhard Heiniger now has constructed a new organ - listening to it in the entirely furniture free cathedral, with just the what washed walls, the figures, the organ and the sound, is a truly amazing experience, even for the non pipe and cathedral fanatics!

But it isn't everything that the tiny spot of Bellelay - the legend goes that it was a "Laie", a wild bore in French that a lost hunter had killed and then swore to build a chapel on the spot of what later became "Bellelay" if ever he found out of the forest again - has to offer. Bellelay is also the birth place of the Tete de Moine Cheese, with which the monks used to pay there annual fees to the landlords and then, after having gained a gold medal in Paris has become world famous. Tramelan has been one of the major trading places for Tete de Moine, which for many years has alsmost exclusively been exported rather than consumed locally.

The Hotel de l'Ours is monumental, too and well known for its very generous portions of game served in autumn.

The Domaine de Bellelay hosts a riding centre, and a historical cave for rustic lunches and dinners. And the near-by turf cutting grounds have been transformed into a nature reserve.

How to reach Bellelay: Publicar "Courtine" serves Bellelay from Tavannes at any time you want mornings and afternoons except Saturdays. Simply call ... and make use of this great service!

Restaurant "Les Places" - with a view into the Bernese Oberland

How to reach it: 1 good hour of stiff walk from Tramelan, along the road towards the North West. In summer there is also the option of a track through the beautiful forest La Cote.

Closed on Wednesdays;

The reason to climb up to "Les Places"? The most fantastic views accross La Tanne, the Jura right to Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, and a lot more! Once the snow will have melted from the terrace, there are tables and bottles on white wine on each one, served with freshly cut cheese and sausage!

When you travel back home by train from Tramelan to Tavannes, look up to your left! The little roof triangle of a witch house entirely within the forest is exactly "Les Places" saying farewell to you!