The River Po is the longest river in Italy and runs through Turin and also through Milan and Ferrara. The bridge in the photo is the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele I, the city’s main bridge, and the current structure was built by the French during their occupation in the early part of the nineteenth century. There were some who wanted it demolished as it was a reminder of French rule, but Vittoria Emanuele I, the Duke of Savoy, kept it and it was named after him. A very fair compromise….
There’s a viewing platform at the top of the Museo Nazionale della Montagna, which offers some excellent views over Turin and is a reminder of just how close the mountains are to the city.
This is the city’s Second World War museum, telling the story of the conflict from the perspective of people who were part of it.
I didn’t take many photos as this is a museum without exhibits, by their own definition. For Italians this means that they are given headphones so that they can hear all of the videos and interactive features. For those speaking English, there are subtitles.
The staff were incredibly helpful, offering a quick guided tour of the museum so that I could understand how it was laid out. The screens on the above photo are activated by hand movement and fortunately a staff member came to assist when it was too complex for me. The staff were excellent, some of the friendliest I can recall in a museum.
This is just a representative display, highlighting how many people were killed by firing squad between 1944 and 1945.
The screens showing videos from people who lived through the experience.
This represents the four principles of the Italian constitution, those of yes to freedom, yes to democracy, yes to equality and no to violence.
Visitors could leave a message with their thoughts on a post-it note at the end of the museum visit.
An unfortunately blurry photo, but there were underground war shelters under the museum. These were only rediscovered during renovation work to the building, which must have been an interesting adventure for the staff who first went back down into them. They were used by the newspaper which was located in the offices above and the marks on the wall are where benches used to be.
Modern benches placed into the shelter.
What I think is an original no smoking sign.
All in all, a nicely put together museum with staff who seemed really proud of what there was available. For those who don’t speak any English or Italian a visit is perhaps mostly pointless, but it’s an interesting concept to tell the story of those involved in the resistance movement during the war.
Of no real relevance, but this is the first Hudson News that I’ve seen outside of the United States and Canada. It’s at the city’s main railway station and reminded me that my trip to the United States is only a few weeks away…..
“Tourists can find our public transport system difficult”.
I wasn’t going to write about this until the friendly women at the tourist information office said the above line. But since she did, I thought I’d have a random rant as I haven’t done that for a long time.
Difficult certainly matches my experience, so here’s my random complaint about Turin’s public transport for tourists. Since most buses and trams look busy, GTT (who operate the network) are obviously doing something right.
Anyway, in every European city I’ve been to over the last few years (and there have been a lot) customers can buy tickets in at least one of these methods:
(i) On the bus with a credit card
(ii) On the bus with cash
(iii) At machines along bus routes
(iv) On-line
Turin hasn’t burdened itself with such ticketing advances. They’re still doing what Warsaw Pact countries often did 20 years ago and require customers to find a shop that sells the tickets which must then be presented on a bus. To make this ultra easy GTT have put on their web-site a PDF list of the locations, making it more exciting for visitors to have to work out where an outlet might be, rather than putting it on a handy map.
Anyway, I could have worked this out and I know where there is a shop nearby as I saw the sticker in the window. But, the system is ridiculous in my mind (and likely just mine), so I thought I’d use the metro system. The city only has one line, which makes planning easier, which was built for when Turin held the Winter Olympics.
I thought this was a marvellous idea as there are ticket machines at metro stations, so that would mean I didn’t have to walk into the city centre. This excellent idea of mine was ruined when it transpired both ticket machines at the metro station were broken. And, to save themselves employing anyone, there is neither a ticket desk or indeed any staff members before the ticket barriers at the station. This certainly saved money, although I noticed other customers looking confused and lost, so I’m not sure that GTT are doing much for the city’s reputation.
However, all was not lost, as on the wall there was an advert for GTT’s new app. So, I find a GTT app on the Play Store and it doesn’t appear to have any ticketing capability. After some delving, it transpires there’s a second app for that, so I go to download it. I then get the message “this app is not available in your country”, which perhaps shows just a little lack of ambition on GTT’s behalf of how many tourists they might get wanting to use the app. Quite why GTT had bothered to translate the poster into English recommending customers get the app is also a mystery to me. But perhaps it’s not blocked on the US Play Store.
So, for the first time in what must now be hundreds of cities, I gave up and walked. I’ve no doubt I could have spent 20 minutes finding a shop that sold a metro ticket, but it was only a 50-minute walk into the centre and I was already being rather lazy not doing that.
Incidentally, GTT also run the mess of the bus service (mess being defined by my sole experience of the operation) that runs from the airport to the city centre. The sole ticket machine at the airport had broken (there’s a theme here) and customers had to work out where instead they could buy their tickets, and as an extra bonus, the bus then turned up late.
For tourists who want to use public transport, it’s possible to buy the Turin card and then get a transport add-on. This would have been a simple option, so tourists are unlikely to get too stuck, but it was at this point that the tourist information staff member made her comment about GTT’s operations so it seems that I’m not the only visitor who has been defeated by the city’s public transport operator.
This is my first visit to Turin, flying with British Airways from Gatwick South. Initially the flight seemed busy and so I expected it to be a busy service, especially as they had been making announcements and sending texts during the day offering to place hand baggage in the hold for free. This is normally done to free up space in the cabin for what hand baggage there is, so I expected a busy flight. I was seated in Club Europe and it transpired that there was just two of us in the front cabin……
We were around fifteen minutes late departing because the aircraft broke. Or, to be more precise, there was a problem with an on-board computer and an engineer had to switch something around.
The crew member serving the Club Europe cabin wasn’t really strained during the flight if I’m being honest, there’s a limit to how much hassle two customers can be. Anyway, I opted for a gin and tonic as my drink, and the other customer opted for a gin and slimline tonic just to mix things up a bit (literally as well).
The crew member was pro-active and visible for the flight though, as with just two customers it might have been easy for her just to sit on a jump seat and have a little rest. But she didn’t and the service was always attentive and efficient.
British Airways had loaded the grand total of two meals for this flight, both different to each other, although both were based around salads. For reasons unknown to me the crew member had also heated up around eighteen rolls and scones, of which I had two and the other customer had none.
The meal was fine and the ham tasted better than the photo suggests. The pork pie had some flavour, the generous amount of pickle added some texture and the Cheddar cheese was excellent. The lettuce leaf was more decorative, and it didn’t really perform that function with any great merit, and the tomato and mozzarella tasted as anyone might expect them to.
For several years I’ve liked the scones served by British Airways and I take the Cornish approach to these things, jam first and then the clotted cream.
The Alps.
The suburbs of Turin.
Turin as the sun starts to set. The flight landed on time, making up the slightly late departure, and I deliberately let the other customer in Club Europe disembark first so that I could follow him (just to the security area, not to the city centre). All very efficient.
These are what I think are an Emirates A380 to Dubai and an easyJet A320 behind it, a reminder of just what a size difference there is between the two aircraft.
I’m slowly working through the menu at the Grain Store at Gatwick Airport as access is included with my Priority Pass card. The limit is £15 and on my previous visits I’ve had a breakfast, primarily because I’ve been flying early in the morning and the restaurant only serves breakfasts then…..
So, this is the first time that I’ve had a later flight from Gatwick South, and so I thought I’d try the restaurant’s Thai crispy squid with a spicy sauce and their sea salt fries. And some sparkling water on the side, which all came to under £14, so within the budget.
I’m often nervous about ordering squid as it can be overcooked so easily, and it’s not a cheap dish to order. However, the squid here was perfect and melted in the mouth, so it was better than I expected. Appropriately salted chips which were crispy on the exterior and fluffy on the interior went well with the squid, so I thought that it was a cleanly presented and decent quality meal.
The service was attentive and polite throughout, although I was only in the restaurant for under thirty minutes, which was my deliberate choice rather than me being rushed out. Wagamama next door was full with a queue out of the door, whilst Grain had tens of empty tables, but I’m not sure that many people have really heard of Grain and inevitably just go with the chains.
Anyway, a perfectly good meal and I’m glad that I popped in. Again.
I’ll post separately about the Cittadella since it’s such an interesting fortification which is complex and rich in history. But below, as a starter since I have so many photos, are views from the walls of the Cittadella which visitors can freely walk around.
Gozo’s museum of archaeology is located inside an historic house, the Casa Bondi, just inside the walls of the Cittadella. Care was taken with the restoration of the building, which has been sensitively renovated and retains some architecturally interesting features. The museum was originally opened in 1960 as a general museum and has specialised in just archaeology since 1986.
A selection of Roman anchors.
A Roman tablet dating to the second half of the second century AD.
This skeleton was found inside of a broken container, and it’s thought that it might be a burial conducted in a hurry by sailors who wanted to create a grave of sorts.
A slab which noted the efforts of one soldier, Bernardo De Opuo, to fight the Ottomans when they invaded Gozo in 1551. Rather than see his wife and two daughters dragged into slavery, Opuo killed them and he was then killed himself in the fighting. He’s perhaps an unlikely hero, but there’s a street named after him in Gozo as well.
The Maymūnah Stone, which is an Arabic tombstone which dates to around the twelfth century, a reminder of the different ownership of the islands. The stone itself was reused and was originally a stone from the Roman period and inscriptions from that date remain. The islands were Muslim until around 1224 when the Arabs left Gozo.
This is the life-sized foot from a Roman statue and the stone was found inside of a wall inside the Cittadella.
This tablet was found in 1855 and dates to the Punic period of Maltese history, to around the third century BC. Some of the tablet is missing, but it’s known to be a dedication to the renovation of a temple.
This isn’t a huge museum and a visit isn’t likely to last more than an hour, but it’s well put together and has numerous interesting exhibits. I got in with my Heritage Malta pass, but it’s possible to buy individual admission or get a joint ticket with other historic attractions in Gozo.
