Terrific Turin

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Turin (Torino to the locals) was surprising. There was not much information online or in the travel apps I'd downloaded, but there was much to see! Tourism promotion is apparently not a strong suit of the city.

When I arrived, it was late afternoon, and I wasn't feeling all that well. I got to my hotel, took a bit of a rest, and by the time I considered dinner, it was pouring rain. I didn't venture very far, and was glad to have a few snacks in my bag.

The next morning I headed to the tourist office, which was understaffed and very busy. I got a detailed map, and a few pieces of information there (there's a church on a hill and a funicular???), and found out which sites were open. I had discovered that Mondays are a bad day for sightseeing in Turin, as most locations (palaces, museums) are closed. I decided to wander around, taking in the sights, and taking photos. At one point, some strange older man told me that where I was, in that part of the city, there was nothing to see, so put away my camera. Strange. I took more photos just to spite him.

I walked over to the Mole Antoniella, which is a big tower, and found another tourist booth. This one was much less busy. I was told that the elevator and the cinema museum were both open (exceptionally, I was told -- does that mean it was a special circumstance?) so I went over and bought a ticket for the elevator. I decided to forego the cinema museum since the descriptions weren't that great. Going up the elevator, I saw the displays on several floors and realized that I should have bought the combined ticket (elevator/museum). Oh well. I bought a few things in the gift shop (something for my niece's birthday as she studies film/media) and walked over to the river.

I was going to go to the medieval town (Borgo medievale) but seeing the church on the mountain, I decided to head there instead.

Along the way I saw other palaces and churches, all very interesting, architecturally. I arrived at the funicular, bought a ticket, and sat and waited. Apparently they only run once an hour, and if it's full, too bad, wait for the next one.

The church was quite pretty, and there was a tour of the kings' quarters and tombs, but it was only offered every 45 min. and only in Italian. No thanks.

I waited for the next funicular down, and the proceeded to the Borgo medievale. It apparently was built in the late 1800s for Expo, and while it was cool to see the buildings, nothing was open except for a few shops and a restaurant.

I walked back through the park that the Borgo was situated in, and headed for a familiar part of town. By now it was dinnertime, and I was hungry! I bought some pizza along my route, and took the tram back to my hotel.

This is a city that I would like to come back and visit someday, but will have to make sure that it's not on a Monday!

Next stop: Lisbon and Sintra!

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