Torino - caffeine capital of Italy

Lisa and I spent last weekend exploring Torino, in Italy.

We once again flew out late Friday night, and fearing the worse (because we're flying with RyanAir), we went early to give us plenty of time to check in. Everything at this point was fine... until we had to board our plane. Once again Crying Air (as more commonly know here in the UK, because that's you're reaction in general why travelling with this airline) didn't disappoint because once again, we were delayed by 45 minutes, waiting for their late arriving plane. Thanks to them we managed to get onto the last airport transfer bus to the city centre of Torino, and we arrived at our hotel after midnight. Needless to say, we were tired and I slept off my frustration.

The next day, we were greeted with beautiful-sunny-clear-warm Italian day. We headed for the town centre which was a 5 minute walk from the hotel. Starting off at 'via Roma' a boulevard lined with designer stores, and all manner of expensive things. Lisa worked her way through the rows of designer stores.

Most of the streets through the city centre was undercover thanks to 18 km's of Porticoes (built in the 16th century to provide shelter for the royal family as they walked through the city), but on this occasion we didn't need it. As Lisa shopped, and being in my home country in Europe, and number one coffee drinkers, I headed for a cafe. Cafe's in Italy is like a bar, you can have a coffee standing up at the bar (cheaper option) or sit down at the table.

'Uno Cappuccino per favore! and a minute later I was satisfied with what was the best cappuccino I have had for a long time, and for €1.20 a shot, I was even happier.... it just meant I can get another shot without burning a hole in my pockets.

Turin streets was very easy to navigate as they're all running parallel and perpendicular to each other so you can't really get lost. We did find it a little dusty and not as clean as other cities we've been too, because sometimes we felt like we were walking down some back alley. However, the architecture of Turin is beautiful thanks to the powerful 'Savoys' who used to live here. As you walk around the city, you can see buildings designed from with influence from the romantic, renaissance, Baroque, chaotic period.

Turin is famous for Fiat (the car manufacturing company), so we saw plenty of Fiats in the streets. Also or famous attraction is the Shroud of Turin, which when Lisa and I went to see, but were told by the museum that it is currently at one of the Cathedrals in Turin, but we still couldn't see anyway it because it was hidden away. So I found it a bit silly to have an attraction, that no one can see anyway. Turin is also quite famous for their chocolate, as the Ferrero (as in Ferrero Rocher) family originated from there... during the world war, to increase the amount of chocolate or chocolate spread they could sent to the soldiers they added hazelnuts to it, and voila, Nutella was developed!!

Turin in 2 days was good enough for us, we left happy knowing we had our fix of Italy, excellent coffee, gelato, and pasta. It will keep us both going till we get back to Australia and head for Norton St. The weekend ended of getting home on time, thanks to EasyJet, the ever reliable budget airline... now we look forward to the next trip!