We travelled north along the Napoleonic route through France, along the edge of the Alps and the Mercantor National Park to the Italian border, passing through numerous small villages and towns and absolutely stunning scenery - great craggy outcrops, snow covered peaks, rivers tumbling along, full with melted snow, and very winding roads, although none as narrow as I had feared! The tunnels, as always, amazed me - long, high and in fierce terrain. How do they get there? What challenges must have been experienced to build them.
And dotted along the road from time to time small Shrines, usually a painted statue with flowers - plastic or occasionally fresh, placed by a local resident or passing traveller.
After crossing into Italy, I really enjoyed the flatness of the area around Cuneo, but was surprised by the very sudden transition from mountains to plains - none of the undulating hills of NSW! The country was lush and green with spring growth, market gardens and crops thriving - so very different from the very rocky Mediterranean coast where even a small patch of lawn is a rarity! I loved espaliered fruit orchards, and the lack of fences, the colours and smells of 'country'. I was disappointed that animals were obviously kept in sheds - barns, hay stacks and muck piles were the tell tale signs - we saw one 'mob' of sheep grazing, tended by a shepherd with several dogs but very little other livestock. I was consistently frustrated by the Italian crash barriers which seemed to be exactly at my eye level and which very effectively blocked my appreciation of the passing scenery, so I may have missed significant info!
On to Torino - where we managed to get lost a couple of times with the usual allegations about my inability to read maps and his inability to follow simple directions. We finally found the lovely piazza vittorio veneto (where we knew there were vacant parking spaces because a website keeps a live track of parking across the city!) and were able to locate our landlady and our cute little apartment a couple of blocks away - conveniently positioned between the river and the centre of town.
The main purpose of our visit was to see The Shroud, on display for just 6 weeks for the first time in 12 years, and we had a reservation for 9am the following morning. We spent the early afternoon orienting ourselves, locating the Duomo and having a look at the Shroud from the 'general public' viewing space in the main part of the cathedral. Pretty amazing to see an object of such interest and controversy, although we found it difficult to exactly identify what we were viewing! More research before the close up visit tomorrow!
We moved on to the Egyptian museum - supposedly one of the best collections of Egyptian artifacts outside Egypt, and we were certainly impressed. I am always gobsmacked by the incredible age of things - to think we were looking at objects made thousands of years BC. I wonder whether having been brought up in a country only recently settled by white people gives one a sense of 'nothing much before 1770'? The whole concept of 'Tomb Raiders' amused us - the museum's descriptions of the lengths people went to secure tombs were elaborate and in some cases quite judgmental about such scurrilous activity as raiding, yet the museum featured the contents of at least two tombs!
Our Shroud visit the next morning was excellent. We had booked our 15 minute slot early hoping to avoid queues and on arrival walked straight through to a theatre where a brief video described its features - the shadows of the body, thorn wounds, nail
wounds and chest wound. No comment on its authenticity! Then into the Duomo, where viewing platforms had been set up on 3 levels. A prayer was read while we viewed the 14 feet length of linen, carefully protected behind glass and suspended high above us. The features identified were all faintly visible when we knew where to look, and we spent the next hours and days joining the millions in debating whether we felt it was real or the 13th or 14th Century fake many claim. Who am I to know? I can only say it was a privilege to see a relic of such religious significance - and its significance is clearly demonstrated by the enormous numbers of people queuing for a glimpse.
Torino is a lovely town and we spent the rest of our time exploring - churches on almost every corner, museums, galleries and markets - not to mention fabulous frescos, promenades, and piazzas. We were especially impressed by the Palazzo Madama in the piazza Castello and the 'Holy Shroud Frescos in the Open Air' - an exhibition of photos of frescos of the Shroud from all over Piemonte and dating back to the 1650's. Fascinating.
Unfortunately, time came to return home - and along with it rain, so farewell Alice and Torino - we will return!
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