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It seemed like a good time to write another blog, so I thought I would! Here's the next installment of adventures in Turin...

Saturday dawned bright and sunny - at least, it was when we eventually got out around midday. We decided to head to the large park to the south of the city, by the river - Parco del Valentino. It turned out to be even larger than we expected, and quite tricky to navigate as signs were a bit sporadic. Quite reminiscent of Central Park in New York but very quiet - despite being a sunny Saturday afternoon, the Turino's clearly do other things than spend the time in the park. Seems to reflect Turin as a whole - while a well-known place, it is rather side-lined by tourists as they prefer the main sites of Venice and Rome. Consequently, Turin is quite quiet and free of British/American tourists. The park itself has roads through that split the grassy and landscaped areas, with pedal cars for hire and twisting-and-turning paths. We headed vaguely in the direction of the river, following the water line, which seemed to go for ever, before resorting to Google maps to locate the 'medieval village' which we had been aiming for (before the signs fizzled out). Arrived at the village, surprised by its scale and magnitude - expecting a model village, we discovered a full-scale version, created in the 19th century as a replica. Wandered amongst the streeets, watching the nesting house martins bobbing about their nests and sat by a lovely 'tree' fountain.

We then headed towards the botanical garden, unfortunately to find it was closed until 3pm. It was, however, next to a rather splendid building, palatial in scale and apparently used by the faculty of architecture but it was originally one of the residences of the royal house of Savoy. Having spent several hours wandering around the park, we decided to return to the viewpoint at Monte de Cappuncini across the river, as it was nearby and a very clear day. It was quite hot at this point, so we walked gently, particularly as we were going uphill. Made it to the viewing platform and although there were a few other people, it was characteristcally quiet. Both the church and the museum (for mountaineering) were open, so we popped into the church - Santa Maria del Monte - for a quick look. It had a very tasteful ceiling - lots of domes and small windows in the main dome, creating an effective light pattern. Took quite a few photos of the view outside, including the Alps and the distant fixed hot-air balloon attraction. Unlike our previous trip up at night, the mountains were really clear, showing a few snow caps in the far distance. After a sit and several trips to the water fountain to refill our water bottle, we headed back down the hill, not getting very far before having to go back to search for my sunglasses, last seen in the church... (found them!) 

Contempleted stopping for some lunch as it was getting late in the afternoon and eventually settled on a cafe in a square opposite the Palazzo Carignano. We were a bit surprised by the prices in the menu! 6 euros for a coke! In the end, we decided to try their homemade raspberry ginger beer and got complementary nibbles -like coloured popadoms, but saltier, wasabi beans and spicy corn, lightly popped. It was enough to settle our appetite until dinner later. Headed back to the hotel for a rest, before going to a wine shop and restaurant for dinner- we had nice starters (lamb skewers and sun-dried tomato bruschetta), followed by carbonara and a duck ragu tagliatelle. After we tried the ice cream at the Lindt chocolate shop and cafe - it was very tasty! 

Today, we had planned to visit the Palazzo Carignano, having sat outside it yesterday and having walked past it a few times. Turned out to be a bit more of a mission than we anticipated! We ran into several language barriers with two older gentlemen seemingly refusing to sell us tickets for entry and directing us to a different place. We knew there were state rooms to view so we followed the gestured directions and ended up in the Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento - a military museum about the unification of Italy set within the rear part of the palace. Very interesting with lots of things to see, with painted ceilings revealing the original use of the rooms. There is also a surviving example of the hall of deputies from when the palazzo was the House of the Deputies. There was also a huge room, later discovered to be the ballroom, at least four times the height of a normal room. But no actual state rooms. Persevering, we went back to the first ticket place, having seen others with tickets just in front of us. Took a different approach and were slightly more assertive, and came away with two tickets. It turns out you have to be part of an hourly tour which we had just missed earlier in the day. The tour itself was very interesting and informative - if you were Italian. Otherwise we spent a significant time on the stone staircase and the entry hall, whilst looking up the history of the building on Wikipedia. We then went into the actual state rooms and it was lightning tour of all three, compared to the time spent on the stairs! They were a shining example of Baroque splendour in the fleeting glance we had. Photos were taken for further study.  

Having successfully navigated the Palazzo and seen what we have intended to see, we embarked on a further quest to see the cathedral... It was just behind the Palazzo Reale and headed straight in, no queuing, no problems. Wandered around and were surprised to find the Turin Shroud ensconced in a corner. Didn't expect that! Just outside, we went up the campanile (the bell tower) and enjoyed the views across Turin. Even got to hear the bells while we were up there! 

Returned to the hotel for a rest before heading back out in search of food. Settled on Eataly, a busy place not far from the hotel. Had spaghetti with tomatoes and mozzarella and Dani had linguine with pistachio pesto and tomatoes. Went to Lindt once again, for ice-cream and Dani had a cappucino, by way of dessert.

After all the stresses and effort of moving house (and the temperamental British weather!) we decided to have a last minute break in Turin, to soak up some sun and get a bit of culture. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, leaving behind torrential rain and instead arriving in 26 degree heat and sunshine. We're staying at the Principi de Piemonte hotel which is very smart and in a great central location. Following a recommendation from our hotel, we went to a place called Alla Lettera for tea, a good pizza place, where we enjoyed some authentic Italian pizza and beer. Walked back to the hotel as it was trying to rain a bit, but not as bad as the rain back home!

We've been taking it fairly easy, but on our first day, we did wander around much of the town, looking at the key sights and finding our bearings. We started at the Piazza Castello, where the Palazzo Reale di Torino is situated and ambled around from there, looking at the old town, the main market place, a number of impressive churches, the 'Mole' (the emblem of Turin) and ending near the river Po. We went back to the hotel for a rest before heading to another recommended restaurant, Pastificio Defilipis, where we enjoyed homemade pasta dishes - Dani had a black ink pasta with swordfish and aubegine, while I had pesto pasta with beans and potatoes, followed by peaches with Amaretto and chocolate and tarte tartin. Very tasty. Feeling full, we headed to the Piazza San Carlo for a walk and to take some nighttime photos. It began thundering en route and, shortly after, we found ourselves in the middle of a full thunderstorm. The rain quickly followed and we dived for cover. Fortunately most of the route back to the hotel is under large covered walkways so we managed to keep fairly dry but there were plenty of bangs and flashes of lightning to keep us entertained on the walk.  

We woke up on Friday to sunshine again and decided to return to the Palazzo Reale to actually visit - it contains about 5 different museums so we thought it needed a good stretch of time! We started in the gardens - a little disappointing, as they haven't been tended well and the only part available to walk around was a patch of grass that was being cut for the first time in what we assumed to be quite a while. The state apartments were splendid however and there was a large armoury, with exhibits of suits of armour for people, children and horses. We had a drink and a cake/biscuit in the palace cafe at the bottom before moseying out. Just outside the palace there is the Church of San Lorenzo, which we noticed was open and decided to pop in, without realising that it was the former home of the Turin shroud and had a small exhibit about it after it was transferred to Turin, with a fill-sized copy on the wall. There was information labellling the key parts of the shroud to make it easier to understand and some information about the various testing that it has undergone to prove authenticity. We also visited the two churches on Piazza San Carlo, which is really close by; the two churches, Chisea San Carlo Borromeo and Chisea di Santa Christina are at the end of the piazza with the pedestrianised part of Via Roma running between them. The churches are quite similar in appearance although Chidea di Santa Christina is more heavily decorated on the outside while Chisea San Carlo feels quite a bit bigger on the inside. It's only a small distance to the hotel so we went back for a short spell before dinner.

The hotel also seemed to be hosting the Torino football team, as there was their coach parked up outside and people starting to gather. As we headed out for dinner later in the evening, we found that large numbers of people were now surrounding the exit and we had to almost fight our way through the barricades to get out! From there we went for pizza - a place called Pizza ad Hoc, where we enjoyed lovely pizza and beer once again. To burn off some of the consumed calories - and to catch a rather glorious looking sunset - we headed out across the river to the nearby Santa Maria del Monte di Cappucini to see the view back across Turin. It's a fantastic view point across the city which came alive with lights as the sun set. The large tower that can be seen standing high amongst the other buildings is the Mole Antonelliana. It has a glass elevator that you can ride up to see the view across Turin, although we haven't done it yet. We stayed up there for quite a while, watching the lights flickering on through the city, with the sihouettes of the mountains in the distance. And, so to bed.