Where we go for New Year’s Eve?… This was our questions for the latest three months before New Year’s Eve. We kept changing our wishes till… we received a proposal… Italy.
Ohhh, first thing in your mind will be Rome or Milan, but no, we went to Turin. And yes, here we have found a great piper gelato and an amazing pizza funghi porcini….yummy yummy.
We went there with both our kids, and you know what? This was the first flight for our second son. He passed the exam with an A+. He was brave, very quiet and enjoyed the flight with his older brother, who was keen to fly once again.
Flights: Flights were bought at one of Ryanair promotions before Christmas, and had a good price, 50EUR/person return ticket. Sometimes, it can be even cheaper, I have seen for 20EUR for one way to Turin.
Accommodation: We were invited to stay at my sister’s house. So we didn’t have to look for an accommodation in Turin. It was great, as spending a night in any of European city in the New Year’s Eve is very expensive.
Transport: We used to take my sister’s family car on some days, and other days we went with public transport. A ticket price is 1,5EUR one way and it last 90min for changing the type of transport that you need to get.
New Year’s Eve we spent in a family circle with the beloved ones. And apart of the lovely and very clean airport we didn’t have time to see any sightseeing in Turin. But, I keep saying, family time is the best time…and yes it is.
Our first day as tourists began on the first day of 2017, and it was spent nowhere else than at
Reggia di Venaria Reale. Even if it is not as famous as any French royal houses, this one was one of the largest royal residences in the world. As a visitor you can see it by yourself how big it is, as there are almost 2km to walk. We had a lovely museum journey that relates a thousand years history of former royal residential quarters of the Savoy Clan.
Kids: It was a pleasure to walk through the gardens and the museum. All three kids, were amazingly quiet, I think it was because they slept few hours last 24h, and for them going to a royal regency was a big challenge.
Second day was another museum…what? yes, it was another museum… Egyptian Museum, the largest museum in Europe. Few space to run, jump and skip for our kids. And I think we hadn’t had to go there with them on the second day of our stay. It was hot, and too much to see, and with 3 kids, it was really exhausting. When we went out, Damian were jumping and running all the Piazza Carignano, and felt the real freedom of that day. The highlights of the day for our kids, were a hot cup of chocolate in the center of the city and skating on ice, that I think our kids enjoyed a lot.
After 2 days of museums, we thought that our kids need a stay-cation day, and we left them with grandparents at home. We went for a city tour, and was our couple time to enjoy the day. After going to Monte de Cappuccini, to see the city in all its beauty, we stopped to take a famous Italian coffee right in the city center. We were lucky enough as we found the historic line number 7, which has a route through the best places of the city. As well, that day was the day we decided to make our trip even more unforgettable and we bought one day return tickets to Bardonecchia for the next day of our stay in Turin.
Bardonecchia – was our next stop with the kids on the 4th day of our trip to Italy. It was great. We enjoyed to the full the day, more about Bardonecchia you can find here.
In Bardonecchia was a lot of fun, but next day we felt very exhausted, and enjoyed our stay in the apartment. Our 5th day began at midday and with a lovely/historic/famous/unforgettable coffee at “El Bicherin”. A coffee with a history of more than 250 years in this lovely city of Turin. The thing that surprised us a lot was, the queue that we had to wait to enter to this quiet place where history meets new generation.
After an yummy yummy coffee at El Bicherin we went to discover the streets of Turin again. We entered into different churches and enjoyed the exhibition of a great amount of cribs “presepe”. The day ended with an amazing vanilla black Gelato Peperoncino in front of the city hall of Turin.
Next day was a full day of degustations. All day long we enjoyed the greatness of Italian culinary. On our menu were aperitivo (appetizers) – home made cheese and prosciutto (Italian raw jam), pizza’s (Pizza Quattro Stagioni, Pizza ai funghi porcini,Pizza Margerita), Italian chocolates and other great Italian cookies “bugie”, macchiatto and a lot of very tasty Italian words in one day.
Our last day in Turin, was a relaxing day for almost all the family, we decided to escape and we went to the National Museum of Cinema and enjoyed the history of cinematography in all its splendor, it was a fabulous day. So we decided to taste lasagna at Eataly, a place where all the food is ecologically grown and where every dish amaze with its taste.
Prices:
- Reggia di Venaria Reale – 25EUR/pers, kids till 5 years enter for free. This is the price if you want to enjoy the gardens and museum. If you choose only one of two there are different prices.
- Egyptian Museum – 13EUR/pers, kids enter for free.
- National Museum of Cinema – normal price is 10EUR/pers, once you go to Reggia di Venaria Reale you have a 2EUR discount.
- Tram number 7, historic line – 1.50EUR, normal ticket price.
- Train to go to Bardonecchia – 7EUR/pers one way, kids till 3 years go for free, and then till 12 pay half price.
- A famous cup of El Bicherin coffee at original Caffe Al Bicerin – 6EUR.
- Vanilla black Gelato Peperoncino – 2.20EUR little cup, and 2.70EUR a middle cup.
- Lasagna at Eataly – 11EUR
- Pizza – depends on the place where you eat and the type you eat. From 7.50 to 15 EUR for a pizza.
- Coffee in the city center – Macchiatto – 1EUR, Cappuccino – 1.80EUR.