It’s amazing what you can discover with a little time, a little research, and just a little money. This week we traveled to Turin, Italy, a place I never knew that I needed to see. Although I really do enjoy beautiful architecture, I’m not such a history buff and I am not the type to spend all my days walking around museums. It seemed to me that museums were the only thing Turin had to offer, so I wasn’t too excited about it. But who am I to pass up the opportunity to go? Good thing I didn’t!
I’m happy to say that I was mistaken. Turin was a lovely city. It gave me the vibe of an Italian version of Paris. It wasn’t as clean and pristine as Paris, but it has such beautiful architecture, quaint parks, lovely cobblestone streets and an abundance of shops. It was very easy to get around the city. Google Maps made catching the right public bus a breeze. For a relatively inexpensive stay, we rented an apartment instead of a hotel and cooked at home. In fact, after a year in Italy, and a craving for Mexican food, I was really happy to even find a little Mexican store, TLALOC, with all the right ingredients to subdue my taco cravings.
Since we traveled in October we were pleased to find the weather cool and refreshing, perfect for a sweater and a scarf, but not actually cold. The cooler off-season month also allowed us to rent a car for a week at a whopping $13 USD per day. With the freedom of having a car, we were able to explore the sights outside of Turin, which is where I initially wanted to go.
TIPS:
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You can’t purchase the bus tickets on the bus. To purchase tickets find a tabaccheria. The single journey ticket costs €1.70 EUR, but make sure you absolutely know where you’re going because you only get to board once on the metro and only 100 minutes (multiple validations) on the bus/tram system. Perhaps, the safer bet is a multi-use daily ticket for €4 EUR. The daily ticket is not active for 24-hours, rather it expires by the end of the day of transportation service provided by GTT. There is a 3-day ticket available for €10 EUR and a 30-day ticket available for €30 EUR.
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Validate your ticket after you get on and before the next stop. While in the city for a week I used the public GTT transportation a lot. I saw many people who got on and off the buses and trams without validating their tickets, however, on my very first bus and only seconds after I validated mine, a transportation authority asked to see my ticket. Riding without validating, even if you purchased the ticket and hold it in your pocket, holds a hefty fine. Somewhere around €70 EUR.
PARCO NACIONALE GRAN PARAISO
The views going to and through Gran Paradiso were very beautiful. Quaint towns, cobblestone streets, flowers cascading over the balcony of homes scattered across landscapes, and occasional waterfalls cascading over the rocky cliffs. Each time we stopped the car to take pictures it was better than the last.
Make sure you go early in the day because the views are best with the sun behind and above you on the way up, and setting behind you on the way back. At Lago di Ceresole, the water is so beautifully crystal clear and turquoise at the base of stunning mountains dusted with white tips. The colors weren’t nearly as vivid on the way back late in the afternoon. There is a wonderful green grassy area, picnic grounds, and walking trails. I would have been totally satisfied if our sightseeing ended there. Fortunately, however, it got even better.
After leaving the lake the road twisted and turned so sharply winding up steep grades on the mountainside. As a passenger looking down, I was quite nervous. It’s probably not a scenic road for the faint of heart, but it was impossible to close my eyes because of the stunning scenery. Finally, we reached the dam “Lago di Serru”. Again the perfectly turquoise waters set against the snowy mountainous backdrop was breathtaking.
We hadn’t yet made it to our picnicking destination which was ultimately supposed to be Colle di Niviolet, however just another mile down the road it was closed off. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it all the way, and there was no explanation as to why the road was closed. Typically the Colle di Niviolet is closed between October 15th to May 15th and on Sundays during July and August the last six kilometers are closed to cars. It could have been closed due to a landslide or some other adversity. So, we turned around and parked the car closer to the Serru Dam. Took a short walk up the hill to a beautiful lookout point and settled down to picnic at the top of the world. Best. Picnic. Ever.
TIPS:
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Google said our trip from Turin to Colle di Niviolet was about an hour and a half drive. After the first 45 minutes, however, once we started driving through some very beautiful scenic landscapes, we drove quite slow to enjoy the scenery, made frequent stops to take pictures, and even parked the car to walk around a few times. So, the next “45 minutes” of driving to reach our destination actually turned into about 2 hours.
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From Turin we took the toll road up, it was the same highway that we later used to travel to Monte Bianco. To go to the Gran Paraiso Parco Nacionale it cost around €6 EUR. On the way back we used Google Maps to avoid toll roads and had a beautiful, scenic and free drive back to Turin.
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Pack a lunch! For me, atmosphere is everything and then food comes in at a very close second. Although there were some dinky looking restaurants and empty coffee bars scattered along the road through the small towns in and around the Gran Paraiso, the best part of the trip was resting at the top, with complete privacy, and snacking on focaccia, cheese, prosciutto and drinking wine. If you choose to go this route, make sure to stop off early in the trip to pick up your food. I didn’t notice any ‘grocery stores’ while passing through the small towns and once we left the area of Lago di Ceresole, we left civilization completely.
MONTE BIANCO
Mont Blanc (French) or Monte Bianco (Italian) is famous, of course. It’s the highest mountain peak in Europe, there have been documentaries made on it, the border of Italy and France run through it, it’s named as the 8th wonder of the world, and also it’s one of the deadliest mountains. Not because its actually the most dangerous to climb, but on the contrary, because it’s widely advertised as an easy climb. Even more so because the first 9,000 feet can be easily reached by the fantastic Monte Bianco Skyway Gondolas.
We paid just €37 EUR for each round trip ticket to the very tip-top of Europe. Worth. Every. Penny. And I now understand why it’s so deadly. At the top of Mt Helbronner, after the Gondola ride, after picnicking and sipping wine on one of the viewing decks, you can literally walk out the back door and start your trek up the mountain. Even in my non-thrill-seeking mind, it seemed like a good idea. Of course, novice climbers are supposed to go out with a guide, but even so, I think it could be easy to underestimate the perils that lay outside the walls of the Skyway building. Since there’s absolutely no way on this earth that I’d ever try to climb a mountain, I was incredibly excited that I could safely take a gondola up, take selfies with the famous peak and sip wine in a perfectly romantic setting. It was definitely a bucket list experience.
TIPS:
- It cost us €27.50 EUR on a single toll road from Turin to reach the town of Courmayeur, Italy at the base of the mountain range. It will cost you the same amount to return on the highway unless you’re willing to add on an additional hour of driving and head out through some non-toll country roads.
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Drive up early and spend the day. From Turin, it was approximately a 2-hour drive. With the sun rising behind us, we saw some fantastic mountains, cliffs, castles, villages, and vineyards that painted the countryside.
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We took a risk and purchased our Monte Bianco Skyway tickets in advance, the risk is that you could pre-book for a day that ends up having low visibility due to intense fog up the mountain. Pre-booking must be done 15 days in advance and is non-refundable, but on the upside, it will save you 30% off the normal ticket price.
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Pack a lunch! After you reach the top you will find multiple decks, with tables, chairs, sun loungers, benches and more. Find yourself a little corner and then unpack those sandwiches. You’ll save your self a pretty penny on the top-of-Europe restaurant, but in all honesty, the €2 EUR coffee, the €6 EUR glass of wine and €5 EUR beer we bought at the top, totally didn’t break the bank. Especially compared to the €12 EUR that we paid for a spritzer on Capri. *facepalm* Even in October the sun was quite hot and kept us warm while outside at the intermediate station. The 360 observation deck was quite chilly, even in the sun, and worse once the wind picked up. I’d guess that picnicking at the intermediate station would be the better bet as you can find some privacy and it wasn’t too cold outside. The 360 observation deck got quite crowded at times and there was much less “outside areas” for picnicking, painting, and such.
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Skyway parking garage costs €1 EUR per hour for 1-4 hours of parking but 5-12 hours of parking cost just €5 EUR. 13-24 hours costs €10 EUR. The conclusion is: spend the day!
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There are two stations where the gondolas dock, the first ‘intermediate’ station is Pavillon du Mont Frety located at 2,173 meters. The second station is Punta Helbronner, ‘summit’ station which is located at 3,466 meters. Although the views from the intermediate station are excellent, and this is where we enjoyed our picnic lunch, the real show stopper was the view from the 360 observation deck at the summit station. If you buy the ticket all the way to the top, you only get to visit each station once. Take your time, and explore the inside, outside, and grounds of the intermediate station before continuing on. We were there only 5 hours and I could have easily and happily doubled that time if I had an audiobook, or if I had brought some painting supplies along.
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The gondolas leave the Skyway stations every 20 minutes. Try to get a spot at the door to have a ceiling to floor unobstructed view on the way up, but honestly, it’s impossible to not have a good viewing spot. The gondola rotates slowly on the way up so that everyone gets a 360 view. The Monte Bianco Skyway states that it closes at 5:00pm, however, the last gondola heading down from Mt. Helbronner leaves at 4:30pm
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Don’t leave without having a peek around the cute town center in Courmayeur. In its peak season, it looks as if it would be a bustling ski resort town center. In October, it was very quiet and since it was still off-season most of the stores were closed, but it was very picturesque. Oddly enough, not in the typical Italian style that you might imagine, but it was reminiscent of a Swiss or German mountain village. Not that I know anything about Swiss or German architecture, but it really didn’t portray the “Italian style” at all.
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There was no cell service at the top, however, the Skyway offered free wifi at Punto Helbronner so you can get your Instagram fix and show the world how cool you are.
