Friday, July 1, 2016

Walking around Turin


One of my favorite things to do in Turin is to just walk around and see what's there. 
Whenever you get near the Mole, you must take another photo! 
The poster is to promote the celebration of Women's Day in Italy. 


 Stopped into a little take out ristorante selling polpetti (meatballs). Two nice ladies running the little place, so I had to try the spiral potato too! 

Walking around the corner from the apartment, this is our favorite little cafe. When the waitresses see us coming, they quickly switch who's in charge of the Americans! The sign on the right was on the corner outside the apartment scolding people for letting their dogs pee there! 


Walked over to the grocery store....they love their Nutella! 


On the other side of town is Piazza Castello, the main square in Turin, full of history.  
  
This is part of the area of the square - Castle-Casaforte Acaja ( XIV century ) with several military statues in front. Across the street, there are many stores, shops and restaurants including the local McDonald's. 

 Porta Palatina, or Palatine Towers which I really haven't seen at all. The Palatine Gate represents the primary archaeological evidence of the city's Roman phase, and is one of the best preserved 1st-century BC Roman gateways in the world. 




 


We stopped into a local Hilton that had some amazing food. Tim's was better - a mushroom risotto which he had an egg on top. Mine was beef, sliced very thinly. 


Many statues around town, not sure what they all are. 


There are always lots of dogs around, but once in a while you see what looks like a Great Dane! 


 I can't stop taking photos of our apartment complex - 25 Verde. On the left is a shot of another vacant unit, probably around a million dollars. Very cool. 




Took a walk over to Parco Valentino for lunch. The wisteria on a nearby home was gorgeous. 
On the right is the cafe, which is adjacent to the Borgo Medievale, the medieval village that is right along the River Po. 



Looking down on the walk from my cafe table, I noticed a Briard walking by with his owner. 
Wonderful herding dog. They don't crop ears in Europe on any dog. 



Yummy agnolotti, like ravioli, with a meat sauce. 


Another friend to join me for pranza, or lunch, a lizard! 



The view above, of the wisteria. 


 Torino Jazz Festival in the Piazza Vittorio Veneto

 

One whole are was just food booths. Nothing like Italian food booths. Definitely not like American junk food booths! 



M**Bun, 


Tim had to try their concoction, which was meat and lardo wrapped around a one inch dowel and cooked on the grill. 


Musicians setting up for the Jazz Fest. We were there on Friday night and not much was going on...






 More pictures of the apartment. We went up to the top floor to see the view. Very cool. 

One unit gets this spiral staircase up to the roof. WOW. 



"Honey, where's my phone?" 


McDonald's menu. The manager didn't want me to take a picture. 
Very cool, the McDonald's there has an elaborate system for recycling. 
Definitely nothing like the US restaurants. 







Day trip to Bra. This town is a bit south of Turin and is home to the Slow Food movement's school.

  UNISG – University of Gastronomic Sciences


http://www.unisg.it/en/




The school was developed by the Slow Food Movement,  as the first university to focus on the organic relationships between food and cultures.
UNISG offers a variety of courses leading to undergraduate and graduate degrees in areas related to gastronomy, food cultures and heritage, food ecologies, and food communications. As part of their curriculum, students go on study tours in European countries and other parts of the world. It's the only Slow Food school in the world. They take students on 140 food related field trips around Europe. 







Organizers chose the Agenzia di Pollenzo, a 19th-century neo-Gothic palace, for the school's campus.[4] The Savoy royal family built the original structure in 1833 as a summer lodge.










There are 3 restaurants on the campus, as well as a hotel. 





Cute shop to buy some UNISG swag. Next to it is the Banco di Vino, which displays wines from every region in Italian. Next to each bottle is a jar of the soil in which the grapes are grown. All climate controlled. 


Chairs made from wine casks. 











 Aperitivo at our favorite place - the Grand Sitea hotel! 
All around the Piedmont region, when you go for your pre-dinner cocktails you get free
appetizers. They are usually big and sometimes involve a buffet. 
My favorite are the almonds in olive oil. YUM. 


We decided to talk a drive south towards Cinque Terre through Genoa, on the Mediterranean. 


 Beautiful views. Unfortunately it was the Monday of a holiday weekend and everyone was trying to leave. LOTS of traffic! 


Photos on the coast on the way to Genoa. 

I had to get Tim to stop the car so I could take a photo of the gorgeous view! 


Genoa has a huge area where there were tons of people along the water, near boats and a marina. 


Stopped into Eataly to see the white asparagus and the liquor bottles. 


View from the glass elevator of Eataly of the new marina area. 



Had to show you a shot of the local theatre, with its crazy poster for their 
production of Alice in Wonderland. 




A big ship right in the area of Porto Antico. 





Genoa's Porto Antico
 In 1992, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America, and with the help of the brilliant mind of the world-renowned Genoese architect Renzo Piano (also responsible for Paris' Pompidou Center,) the old port of Genoa was redone. There's a biosphere there that was built for the Expo. 


We didn't stay to see much in Genoa since it was SO busy. I guess there's lots to see so we'll be back. 



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