Torino, Italy

We left Milan quite late – we popped to the supermarket to fill the boot with beer and wine, and got on the motorway to Turin after midday.

No idea why we can’t just call it Torino, but for some reason, it’s Turin to non-Italians! We are going for Torino from here on!  Translating place names is a complex subject by the way – google it some time!

We had an enjoyable drive over from Milan.  We could see a prominent mountain from the Alps looming larger and larger.  Sel’s map suggested the Matterhorn but that should be a lot further North. More research needed, but anyway, it looked amazing!

So the afternoon drive meant that there was only enough time to scoff some smoked salmon, unstow the bikes and go for a couple of hour cycle by the river.  But we did get time to cycle past the old Fiat factory at Lingotto. This building is famous to us as it had a big oval test track on the roof. Normally you must get entry to the museum to see the roof but we spotted an open gate near the big circular ramp up to the roof and we snuck in on the bikes to check it out and we made it all the way up to the roof.  Cycles FTW! We took a couple of photos and skedaddled before security came for us. The museum was shut on Monday anyway, so we couldn’t have paid to get access if we wanted to! Check out the photos and tell us where you know the building from. No clues – you have to work this one out. Charlie, you are not allowed to comment!

The following day and a bus into town followed by metro, tram and funicular saw us overlooking Torino from the Basilica of Superga.  It was awesome to see the city with the Alps in the background.  We will be there tomorrow!

The rest of the afternoon we wondered the town checking out museums, cathedrals and general culture.  What a wonderful town. Sadly, we only had the one full day to finish exploring. We topped off the afternoon with a meal in ‘Eataly’ – a cross between a boutique food ship and restaurant.  Fabulous.