Discovering a world of Chocolate

EASTER countdown !!!

Easter is about the celebration of Jesus Resurrection and it’s commemorate by Catholics around the world as one of the most important Holidays for those who follows the religion or have faith in Jesus as God’s sun.

However, it does also commemorate as the Holiday where all children, and adults too, get “Easter Eggs Chocolate” as a gift, which are usually specially decorated.

According Wikipedia, the custom of the Easter egg originated in the early Chirstian community of Mesopotamia.  They stained eggs with the colour red in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at his crucifixion. As such, for Christians, the Easter egg is a symbol of the empty tomb. The oldest tradition is to use dyed chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute eggs made from chocolate, or plastic eggs filled with candy such as jellybeans.

The fact is, everybody loves chocolate!

I confess that I (Elisandra) am a “Chocaholic” !

Chocolate makes people feel happy and take away the stress even for a brief moment.  In addition, the flavours of a delicious chocolate can make you fly away making you dream where it all came from!

So, for this Easter Holidays, we from Discovering Destinations are sharing some of the Top chocolate places we have visited.  We haven't been around the world yet, yet we've visited the right places for chocolate.  These are only suggestions according our visits.  There are many more places for sure.

01-) Brussels - Belgium

Our number one chocolate experience comes from Brussels.

This city smells like chocolate. There are an unbelievable number of stores around the city, especially Grand Place, where you can find all kind of chocolates.

For Brussels and Belgium in general, Chocolate is an “Art” … the Art to make the most perfect Chocolate!  And we were the subjects that got to eat the art. That is, the best chocolates ever !

02-) Bruges - Belgium

Visiting Bruges was just another example that Belgium loves chocolates.  We found a variety of stores in Bruges, from artisanal to chic and fancy chocolates.  All of them different and unique. Its impossible to resist and hard to stop eating after one piece of chocolate.

03-) São Paulo - Brazil 

Brazil is not famous for making chocolates.  They are however famous for exporting it to northern countries.

They export a lot of “Cacau” fruit and in turn these countries develop some of the best tasting chocolates.  Like Belgium for example.

However, if you are in Brasil during Easter time, you will see that Brazilians LOVE Chocolate.  This fact is based on the amazing selection in most supermarkets and shopping malls.

One of my personal favourites, is located in Ibirapuera Mall.  It's a franchise so you may find it around São Bernardo do Campo as well.

It's called Munik.  They make very delicious artisanal chocolates !  Munik also has, what I consider to be, the best recipe of “Pão de Mel”.  The direct translation is ''honey bread'' or even ''sweet bread''.  A chocolate covered piece of moist cake filled with sweet honey, mmm.

04-) Cusco - Peru 

Now that's amazing! Thanks our friend and taxi driver (Alex) in Cusco we discovered a “Chocolate Museum” in Cusco.  The museum is small but offers quite the punch.  They explain all the important steps in making the chocolate and guide you along the way.  It's possible to try chocolate tea, hot cocoa with milk, beans and jellies.   Then the fun part is buying some to take home.

A fun experience that's quite interactive is a chocolate making class.  Where they teach you how to make your own chocolate from scratch !  Pretty cool.

05-) Montreal - Canada 

Since we live in Montreal, we would like to talk about some great places where you can find original and delicious chocolate for Easter or anytime really. Montreal has great stores like Lindt chocolate, Rocky Mountain chocolate, Cacau 70, Jeff de Bruges and Juliette Chocolate, which is one of my favourites.

However this Easter you can also explore new places like “Chocolats Favoris”!  They recently opened a store located beside Place des Arts on Ste-Catherine's street.  Why not extend your shopping experience with a hot beverage and piece of chocolate !

06-) Zurich – Switzerland  

Discovering Destination is currently on a  2 month journey, Discovering Europe. Flying over to France, we took a 6 hour connection in Zurich.  We thought, while waiting in the airport, why not try some of their delicious chocolates !?

The chocolate were so delicious, works of art that melted in our mouths.

It was amazing but not that cheap. We spent $ 27.00cad  for 12 bonbons, but they came with satisfaction guaranteed ! The chocolate totally passed our quality test, because they tasted like haven in your mouth !

07-) Paris - France 

Uhh La La … 2017 Easter in Paris! Discovering Destination took the opportunity to spend the Easter in one of the famous destinations in the world. Although Paris offers amazing and delicious options for desserts they are not that renown for chocolates.  But, we found lots of “Patiserries” ready for Easter and we got to try them of course!