Traveling By Train.....Italy, North by Northwest

Early Tuesday morning, we left the sweet village of Santo Stefano, heading north by northwest to Torino. After closing up the apartment....Shutting off the water and gas, cleaning out the fridge and leaving the apartment spotless, we walked down to the main road...Via Aurelia, to pick up the bus to San Remo. As far as we know, the train no longer stops in Santo Stefano. The old tracks have become the lovely Pista Ciclabile....bike path. Here is a pic of Via Aurelia, a route that has been in existance since Roman times.

The local bus runs along the coast and is usually full. Sometimes it is a squeeze to fit our bags in between our legs. But now, of course we are traveling with fewer bags!

Next stop......San Remo train station where we muddle our way through purchasing tickets.....I have finally discovered that if I write my request on a slip of paper, my destination, the time etc. that the ticket agent, who speaks no english, ..... is much happier with me!

The train from San Remo to Torino heads north through the Alpi Maritime and along the French border. It becomes mountainous very quickly. We pass trough tiny villages clinging to the sides of steep cliffs. We pass through tunnel after tunnel, sometimes chugging quite slowly and then speeding up. We can tell that the track is going in a circular pattern as the train climbs higher and higher. We see other tunnels in the distance and fortress ruins on mountain tops. This area was virtually destroyed during WW2. The tracks and roads were rebuilt after the end of the war. Sometimes the villages are quite picturesque and sometimes they look pretty darn scarey!

Translation: don't cross the tracks!

Finally we are up and over the Alpi and descend into the Po valley, passing through Cuneo, Fossano and Carmagnola before arriving in Torino. Our friend Fabrizio meets us at the station.....we drop off our suitcase....only one now! And immediately head out to visit a sight!

Fabrizio's family has lived in this region and in particular, in Torino for .......well, let's just say from the 1100s, give or take a few years! He is an expert on the history as well as historical sights in and around the Piemontese region. He is a wonderful guide, very informative and knowledgable and he has a great sense of humor. He took us to Parco Valentino along the Po and to a very interesting, recreated....(he called it an Italian disneyworld), medieval village. It was made especially for an exposition in the late 1800s. It included shops, a church, a castle as well as gardens....all authentic copies of buildings around the Piemonte region. Here is a quick peek!

Looking at the outer walls.

Walking the village streets.

The kitchen of the castle.

This is the lord's antechamber where he would have listened to requests and problems brought to him from his villagers as well as other people who lived in his region.

Torino has marvelous museums, historical houses, churches, large piazzas and 11 miles of covered sidewalks. It is one of the only Italian cities with a Roman gate still standing ( above ). Torino is also the location of the Holy Shroud which is kept in the church pictured below...notice the remains of the Roman wall that at one time surrounded the city.

Fabrizio kept us busy with several " field trips" . The next morning we went to the Egyptian Museum which houses the second most extensive collective of Egyptian art, tomb articles, statues etc. in the world. It is hard to imagine a society so fixated on death and the afterlife......but the articles were amazing to see. In the afternoon we drove up into the Vall Susa which is one of several valleys leading into France. There are many little villages, each with a castle perched on the highest spot. This area has been invaded off and on for many hundreds of years. We visited one of the Sacred Mountains......a path of churches and shrines that pilgrims followed to the Holy Land. The initial construction began in 1500AD and was built on the top of a mountain. To reach it, we had to drive up and around to the very top of the peak. Notice on the second picture that the walls are built right on the mountain cliffs.

The views from the top were incredible.

We have been busy visiting friends this week and so I have not had much time to write for the blog. We arrived in Gallarate, just outside of Milano..yesterday. Today we spent the day visiting the beautiful Lago d' Orta which is just to the west of Lago Maggiore. Tomorrow we are going to what I think will be a fall vineyard festival in the town of Ghemme ....a little bit east of here. These festivals are put on by the towns..... My guess is lots of delicious foods and a wee bit of wine tasting. I am hoping to write a few more blogs on our way home on Monday....so check back, I will have a few more stories to tell.

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