Nearly Neutral Travel

We returned to Turin on our way to the Cinque Terre and were keen to make the most of the afternoon and evening we had available.

First up was a very warm walk to the Mole Antonelliana – the iconic tower displayed on Italy’s 2-cent coin. After queuing for entry we were told to return in two hours for our slot to ride the lift to the viewing deck. For future reference – it’s definitely worth booking online at busy times!

With time to kill, we took a stroll across the Dora Riparia (river) to reach what was currently a very sleepy neighbourhood. Clearly, our ambition to make the most of our afternoon didn’t quite align with the rest of Turin’s population, who were wisely hiding from the afternoon heat. Still, we found a cafe in a quiet square to enjoy a refreshing local beer to pass the time. Sara enjoyed watching a man on the neighbouring table who was trying to train his pigeon friend to eat politely. It wasn’t going well.

The panoramic lift up the tower passed through the centre of the Museum of Cinema, which was both incredible and stomach-turning in equal measures. Less than a minute later, we’d arrived at the observation deck, which provided a 360 degree panorama over Turin’s rooftops, backed by the Alps on one side.

Next up, I’d managed to convince Sara that the tram was the perfect mode of transport to our next destination – Parco del Valentino. To my delight, a historic orange tram arrived, and we happily rattled along beside the river. In all honesty, I’m not sure the tram was any quicker than walking, but what it lacked in speed it made up in style.

We strolled through the park and finally found where the people of Turin were enjoying the weather – watching some live music next to the river with a bar.

We ended the day by trying the Torino speciality of an apericena – an aperitif accompanied by a colossal tagliere (sharing platter) – at Beerba. This kept us fully occupied for the rest of the evening!

This second visit to Turin was part of our transit to the Cinque Terre – 5 villages perched in a row along the rocky coastline. We’d heard so many good things that our levels of anticipation couldn’t be higher, and my goodness did it deliver.

We loved Aosta straight away – it was a short, easy train ride from Turin, surrounded by mountains and with a beautiful town centre made up of a pretty pedestrian street, squares and lots of Roman ruins.

We started the morning with the life-changing discovery of Crema al Caffè, which is essentially a cross between an iced coffee, a slushy and an ice cream. I assume it’s not really intended for breakfast but it was delicious and I was buzzing with sugar and caffeine within seconds!

After some minor Brysoning over walls, along roads with no pavement and through carparks, we caught the gondola up to Pila (1814m). 

To Bryson (verb): The act of walking to a destination along a route designed primarily for cars. Likely to involve some Parkour techniques.

We’d heard it many times before, but as a skier, visiting alpine resorts in the summer is a disconcerting experience.  The architecture and infrastructure look very familiar, but the landscape as a whole is totally unrecognisable.  We passed over mountainside smallholdings with quaint flower boxes and neat veg patches that I’m sure would have looked very remote when covered in snow. We managed to squeeze in quite a few On the Piste references (“This is roads, Maureen!”).  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’d highly recommend an hour spent watching this 1987 classic.  Trust me when I say it gets funnier with each watch (bear with it).

After the gondola, we caught a chairlift up to Chamolé (2309m). In winter, chairlifts can be super chilly and are best attempted with a hip flask (in our humble opinion), but this journey was lovely as we were SO hot! It was only as we neared the top that we realised we had no idea how to disembark a chairlift when not wearing skis. A brief strategy meeting ensued.

We ate our baguettes by a lake, then began the steep climb up to Col de Chamolé (2619m).  It was raining heavily by this time but we were keen to continue, although we did eventually admit defeat when a lightning storm broke right overhead.  I can cope with getting a bit soggy but getting hit by lightning seemed a bit extreme for day 3 of our trip. Instead, we descended to the lake and then further down below the tree line to pass through alpine forests and meadows to reach Pila on foot.  

Once back in town, we peered through a fence to see the impressive remains of the Roman theatre.

On our way back, we bought fresh pasta to cook up our own simple feast in our lovely Airbnb using tomatoes and herbs from our host’s veg garden (dreamy) and tried a bottle of local wine. We spent the evening researching the next part of our trip – we’re already changing our plans so I hope no one has read our planned itinerary post too closely!

Carbon roundup: Oli wants me to note that our carbon tracker has already come unstuck as a result of our journeys on the gondola and chairlift. Currently classified as ‘light rail’!

While our 2010 carbon audit taught us that we’ll need to embrace travelling slowly in order to minimise our carbon footprint, we were also keen to start our trip with a bang. “Breakfast in London, lunch in Paris, and dinner in Turin” sounded pretty exciting, and we loved the idea of beginning the trip in Italy. However, the reality was that this would require a 5.30am start, 10 hours spent on trains, and nearly £250 spent on train tickets. Still, we decided to go for it, with the promise to ourselves that we’d slow down once we arrived in Italy.

Following our Eurostar from London to Paris, we needed to cross Paris to catch our onward train to Turin. We’d had an early start, but I was feeling a lot fresher following a three-hour nap on the Eurostar, so we opted to make the five-kilometre connection from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon on foot. We emerged into beautiful Parisian sunshine, and stopped almost immediately in Jardin Villemin for lunch and to open a few cards from our friends that we’d saved for the journey – thanks Amy, George & Erin 🥲 Five kilometres might not sound like a long way, but it certainly felt like it in the 34 degree midday heat and with our freshly packed bags! However, we enjoyed admiring the slowly changing architecture and street art along the way.

Our Frecciarossa high-speed train flew through France en route to Lyon, but then slowed significantly for the final third of the journey through the Alps. Finally, six hours and a couple of naps later, we arrived in Turin. We picked up a late-night pizza and called it a night.

We didn’t need our alarms the next morning, as we were awoken by some refurbishment of the room opposite – maybe that’s why I’d managed to get such a good rate on the reservation?! To make up for this, I headed out to collect some breakfast and coffee while Sara slept, and then together we left to spend the morning exploring Turin.

Our route to Piazza Castello took us along Via Pietro Micca, where we loved the blend of Parisian and Viennese architecture, as well as the mix of old and new trams.

We enjoyed a sandwich overlooking Porta Palatina – the red brick remains of a Roman-era gate – before hopping between shaded areas as we navigated Giardini Reali. The first half of our stay in Turin ended with a quick walk back to the hotel to grab our bags in order to jump on the 14:34 train to Aosta – a bilingual city in nestled in the Italian Alps. I say jumped because we nearly missed the train altogether. In fact, I’d only discovered the train had stopped further down the platform when Sara sent me to validate our tickets!

Overall, our route from London to Turin by train and on foot certainly took longer than a flight. However, it did save 136 kilograms of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (kgCO2e). Not bad!