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Truffles, Tajarin & Turin…Two weeks in the Piemonte Region of Italy

Truffles, Tajarin & Turin…Two weeks in the Piemonte Region of Italy

Old Nov 30th, 2014, 02:52 PM
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Truffles, Tajarin & Turin…Two weeks in the Piemonte Region of Italy

Prologue:

Why a vacation in Turin, or as it’s known in Italian, Torino? Well, you could say Torino and I go way back. Ever since I can remember I’ve heard stories about this northern Italian city sometimes known as the “Detroit of Italy” because FIAT is based there. It wasn’t until I started traveling as an adult and stoking a love for Italy that I came to know Torino was “Fiat country”. I always knew Torino for its university. You see, my uncle studied there in the 1950’s, so by the time I arrived on the scene, there was always some kind of story or reference at family gatherings about Italy and Torino in particular. I guess you could say, that’s how this granddaughter of an Irish immigrant came to love the country of Italy.

Although I was very aware of the city of Torino, other places kept getting “top bill” on my “I want to go there” list, until last January. That’s when mom (my perfectly matched travel partner) and I decided a visit to the Piemonte wine country was next on our Italy “radar” and if we were going to spend time in the Piemonte region, we didn’t want to ignore Torino. We signed up for a small group tour of the Piemonte wine country with Bluone Tours ( website here: http://www.bluone.com/ ) and planned to spend a week in Torino before the tour started. Our trip would begin at the very end of August and would stretch over the first two weeks of September. This worked out to be the perfect plan for us.

Logistics:

Since the second part of this trip was with a small group tour the logistics were stress-free, pay the cost of the tour and show up, that simple. What helped make it even easier is that we had done a market tour/cooking lesson several years ago in Bologna with the family who owns/runs Bluone tours. We kept in touch with them via social media and knew and trusted them to provide a top-notch experience, which they did, but more on that later.

With the tour booked, we needed flights and a hotel in Torino for the week prior to the tour. I studied a variety of hotel websites and kept circling back to the TownHouse 70 Hotel ( website here: http://www.townhouse.it/th70/ ). I really liked what I saw and read about this property. The other hotel we considered was the Grand Sitea Hotel, which we were going to be staying at for one night at the start of the group tour. So we decided to give the TownHouse 70 a try.

We were extremely pleased with the TownHouse 70 Hotel. For us, the location was perfect, literally around the corner for the Piazza Castello, which is a major piazza in Torino with not only 2 royal palaces but also many transportation options. Many of the restaurants we went to were either an easy walk or quick bus or tram ride from the hotel’s location. The staff at the hotel was just terrific, attentive to our needs or questions and very efficient. All in all, I would happily stay at this hotel again.

The Grand Hotel Sitea where we stayed on the first night of the group tour ( website here: http://grandhotelsitea.it/ ) was a lovely hotel, I’d call it in the “Grande Dame” style. The guest room was extremely spacious, and the staff just as helpful as at the TownHouse 70 Hotel. The aperitivo in the bar at the Grand Hotel Sitea was the best we have ever experienced anywhere in Italy, and it was “molto elegante”! My only criticism is, for us, it was slightly out of the center of “things”. Not terribly far, places were still walkable from there, but it was just a bit longer walk.

When it came to flights, we knew we wanted our final destination to be as close to Torino as possible. Could we have flown into Milano and then taken a bus or train to Torino? Sure we could have, but Torino has a nice little airport that is a 20 minute drive from the center of the city. We chose to book on AirFrance which services Torino airport. We were fortunate to book premier voyager seats (the AirFrance version of premium economy) but as so often with flights, what you purchase may not always be what you ultimately get. And so the trip report will continue….
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Old Nov 30th, 2014, 03:51 PM
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I have been waiting for this!
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Old Nov 30th, 2014, 04:16 PM
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LowCountry...ya got me good with the mere mention of "tajarin"...now I'll be dreaming of a plate of tajarin, with butter and sage. After traveling most parts of Italy for so many years, Piemonte was one of the last regions we had not properly explored....with tajarin on most every menu for miles around...soooo, after reading EKScrunchy's report on Piemonte, we latched onto her rec for a superb small villa near Alba...Villa Favorita ...overlooking the delightful town, known for its truffle festival which ended the day before we arrived. I finally found some packaged tajarin in one of our Italian delis here in SoCal..but it can't come close to the freshness.

Waiting for your report..pics of plates of tajarin, dripping with butter and sage???? Please?
stu
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Old Nov 30th, 2014, 04:56 PM
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The Piemonte is at the top of favorite trips.Eagerly awaiting more....( as I study your Sicily report.)
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Old Nov 30th, 2014, 05:32 PM
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We are planning a trip to northern Italy next year. Looking forward to reading about
your adventures.
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Old Nov 30th, 2014, 11:54 PM
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Keep posting!
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Old Dec 1st, 2014, 05:01 AM
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Stu...hard to believe, but true...when we had tajarin, it was never with sage & butter, always with tomato sauce and truffles! I'm going to have to try and recreate it with sage & butter at home! We only had a brief stop in Alba, but really liked what we saw, I'd like to return and use Alba as a base to explore more of the area.

HappyTrvlr...in all of our trips to Italy, this one to Torino and Piemonte was our favorite!
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Old Dec 1st, 2014, 08:49 AM
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LowCountry: Dining at a restaurant in the little town of Barbaresco not far from Alba.."Antica Torre"... we were introduced to tajarin. The waiter suggested a butter/sage "rubbing rather than the usual red or white sauces. I was smitten as was my late wife. We found excellent tajarin dishes at the Vin Cafe in Alba, and at Risorgamento Trattoria in the "foodie" town of Treiso (about ten minutes from the Villa). The owner, when I ordered butter and sage, smiled and said "favorita mio"...
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Old Dec 1st, 2014, 09:04 AM
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For your eventual, inevitable return to Piemonte, here are some Alba pix..Stu

https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...baAndVicinity#
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Old Dec 1st, 2014, 04:32 PM
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I have read many of your past trip reports and know how much you love places like Rome. So for you to say this was your favorite trip is high praise. I can't wait to read more. Your reports are always so enjoyable!
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Old Dec 1st, 2014, 07:06 PM
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Stu...

Thank you for sharing your photos. You are right, I have a feeling this will not be my only visit to the Piemonte!

indyhiker...

Thanks for joining in!
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Old Dec 2nd, 2014, 04:58 AM
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I am here too. Enjoying and anticipating more. We loved our visit several years ago to Piemonte!!
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Old Dec 2nd, 2014, 02:54 PM
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My pleasure! I've read and reread all of your Rome reports in preparation for our first trip to Rome (and Umbria) in May. I just love how you and your mother travel together. You both stay so positive and are always ready for the next adventure!
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Old Dec 2nd, 2014, 06:24 PM
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Excited to read your report-we are heading this way this summer!
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Old Dec 2nd, 2014, 07:20 PM
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Thanks everyone for the kind words of encouragement! This next installment is about getting to Torino...it's part of the trip experience!

Saturday, August 30, 2014

I knew it was a sign when before we left for the airport I got a text message, a voicemail message and an email from Delta about our flight from JFK to Paris. Although we flew AirFrance, I booked our flights through Delta since they service Savannah (our “home” airport) and we are members of the Delta SkyMiles program (which now sadly is becoming worthless for sporadic flyers like us). The email said our JFK to Paris flight had been cancelled, so I made a call to Delta. The agent assured me the flight was not cancelled, there was just a change in equipment. Knowing this mom and I are now thinking, our seats will probably get re-assigned, but at least we had a heads-up about it and we also had a 6 hour layover at JFK, which would give us plenty of time to sort things out.

At the Savannah airport I asked the gate agent about the equipment change on the JFK to Paris flight and asked if we would need new boarding passes. Try as she might, the system wouldn’t allow her to print new boarding passes for us and her recommendation was to go the AirFrance desk as soon as we got to JFK.

The flight to New York was uneventful and we arrived at terminal 4. Being the “thorough” trip planner I am and having not been to JFK for several years I studied the airport maps and found that AirFrance flights departed from terminal 1. With some more internet digging I found we would have to transit outside the security area to go from one terminal to the other. It wasn’t a big deal, but I’m glad we checked our bags because it did entail exiting the front doors of terminal 4, walking across the street and up a level to the plane train which would whisk us to the front doors of terminal 1.

Once at terminal 1 we got in the line at the AirFrance check-in desk and this is where things get interesting. We hand the agent our boarding passes and explain the situation. She is typing away on her keyboard and the system isn’t letting her print new boarding passes for us. She then escorts us to the AirFrance ticketing counter and another agent. More typing on the keyboard. It turns out our 9:50pm flight has been rescheduled to depart at 2am. We start to think, “ugh…now a long 6 hour layover has turned into a 12 hour layover”. But fear not, the agent has re-booked us on a 6pm departing flight! Yay! The only wrinkle is that instead of having the 2 seats we selected on the original flight which were located on the side of the plane (it was a 2-4-2 configuration) we had seats in the center, but at least one was on the aisle. And we were leaving 3 hours earlier, which was good because the security line we had to go through at JFK took almost an hour.

The other concern we had was our checked luggage, which was now tagged for the flight leaving at 2am, the AirFrance agent helping us through all this could not have been nicer. She called the baggage department several times to try and speak with someone and get our bags re-routed. She was unsuccessful, no one was answering. She did call the AirFrance lounge attendant (we were able to gain access to the lounge since I have Gold status on Delta and we were flying international) and explained our situation and asked her to continue monitoring our baggage situation. By this time mom and I were resigned to the fact that our bags would probably not make it to Torino with us but that was ok, we did have a change of clothes and we just weren’t going to worry about it.

Once we got through the security line we made our way to the AirFrance lounge. I read on FlyerTalk the lounge at JFK was going through refurbishment and was scheduled to open in late August. I guess August 30th wasn’t late enough, they were still using the JAL lounge, but at least we got to sit for an hour, have a few snacks and relax before boarding. The flight to Paris was uneventful and we landed in Paris on time and now had a 4 hour layover before our flight to Torino.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

I knew our connecting flight to Torino would be out of terminal G at CDG. We’ve flown out of that terminal previously and when arriving from the states into terminal 2E or 2F we always had to go through passport control at either of those terminals then go out the front doors of the terminal to catch a shuttle bus to terminal G and go through security there. I’m happy to say things have changed. We were able to get on a bus (on the secure side of the airport) after disembarking and go to terminal G immediately where they have a smaller passport control area with fewer crowds, actually when we went through there was no one else there and since we never exited the secure airport area we didn’t have to go through security again! We made it to terminal G in less than 30 minutes.

Now we had close to a 4 hour wait, and we were really starting to “suck wind” as my dad used to say when he got tired. But we were able to access the AirFrance lounge here too and although much smaller than lounges in the other terminals it was nice to sit, and “rest our eyes”.

Eventually our flight was called to board and we had a short flight to Torino, just over an hour and we were landing at about 2:30pm. As we waited at baggage claim for our bags, we were not very hopeful with the flight change that occurred, a miracle happened. I spotted mom’s bag at the top of the baggage carousel and mine came out shortly thereafter. We thought we were seeing a mirage but were thrilled we would have clean clothes!

After booking our hotel in Torino I contacted the staff and they arranged for a car service to pick us. It was worth the €50 cost. When we arrived at the TownHouse 70 Hotel we were greeted warmly and the check-in process was quick.

We had a short nap and a shower and then took a walk to get oriented with our surroundings and then made our way over to Caffe Torino (here is the website: http://www.caffe-torino.it/Caffe_Torino/Intro.html ) in Piazza San Carlo for aperitivo. I had my first negroni sitting outside at a stunning caffe in a beautiful piazza. Life was good and the caffes in Torino are really something to see! Since we were pretty tired from our travels after a couple drinks and a few nibbles we toddled back to the hotel and crawled into bed for some much needed sleep.
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Old Dec 2nd, 2014, 08:57 PM
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Love your reports and can't wait to read more! Thanks for sharing.
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Old Dec 3rd, 2014, 07:49 AM
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We were in the Piemonte area in 2012 and loved it. It looks like your wine tour took you to some of our favorite places. And the people in Piemonte are super friendly - the nicest we've found on any of our trips. Looking forward to reading more of your report.
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Old Dec 3rd, 2014, 10:33 AM
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Sounds like fun....God love you for making all those connections---I am so ridiculous now and almost can't stand to make even one. I don't know what tajarin is and will wait for you to fill me in, but I am intrigued!
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Old Dec 3rd, 2014, 10:39 AM
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john183...I agree, the Piemontese were some of the nicest people we've met!

Denise...I dislike making several connections too, but coming from a smaller airport going to a smaller airport, we don't have many alternatives. Thankfully it all worked out! Tajarin is a pasta specific to the Piemonte region. It's long, thin and flat.
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Old Dec 3rd, 2014, 10:50 AM
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Joining the audience for your already fabulous trip report about one of my favorite cities—I love Torino!
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