Sacra di San Michele

When I began researching travelling from Chatham to Tivoli by train it took no time to discover that the only sensible route is via Turin. When I looked at journey times I knew it was sensible to stop off for a night en-route, and it made sense to do that in a place where I would need to be changing trains anyway. And so it was that I began researching what to see in Turin and found that the Sacra di San Michele was definitely right up my street. A little further research into opening hours told me that Saturday was the best day to visit assuming a straightforward Monday-Friday off work and spending the bulk of it in Tivoli.

And so it was that this morning I set off to see the Sacra di San Michele. I arrived at the station with plenty of time, bought my ticket with no difficulty, found the platform and stood waiting. No trains were indicated from that platform but I saw a small group of women waiting on the same platform so approached them to ask if I was in the right place. Before I got as far as speaking with them I saw that they were holding tickets to the same station as me so felt confident enough without embroiling myself in foreign language complexities. The time for which the train was scheduled came and went. No announcements, so I looked back along the platform and the huddle of women had disappeared. I went in search of information, found the same group, no they had no idea either, found someone in uniform who told me to return to the departures board, at which point all became clear. What had seemed to say Platform 3 was in fact the logo of a train operator and the departure platforms were listed in a completely different column. We had all missed the 9:15 but there would be another at 9:45 so no problem. I went off for a coffee.

From the station at Avigliana there is a shuttle bus which takes visitors up to the abbey and there were 45 minutes to kill before the next of those was scheduled. The same group of women had also caught my train (unsurprisingly) and invited me to join them for a coffee before the bus arrived.

They were great fun, from Pamplona in Spain and ended up adopting me for the day. Six of them with ages ranging between 60 and 63, so at only 58 I was the “bambino” and amusingly head and shoulders above all of them.

The abbey is a very impressive structure in an incredible location, but to be perfectly honest, there's not a great deal to look at once inside. Unfortunately the day was really hazy and so the views were not great either. I am including one shot looking up and an extra looking down, so you get an idea, but you will find some tantalising images on the internet if you care to see what it can look like on a good day, and I recommend that you do!

But no matter, my final, potentially disappointing day in Italy was turned magical by my new-found Spanish friends. I have a feeling that we might remain in contact.