mondovì

Monday, my last day in Saluzzo, I decided to go to Mondovì. When planning my trip, I assumed that there was transportation from Saluzzo all day long but as I mentioned in my previous post, there are limited trains that take you to Savigliano, where you need to be to get anywhere. There are only trains at 7 and 8 am and then again at 1:30 and later. I decided to check out some of the shops in Saluzzo in the morning and then take the 1:30 train to Saluzzo. BUT...of course it was Monday and so all of the shops were closed. The shops close on Sundays, Mondays, and every day around 12:30 or 1:00 in the afternoon until somewhere between 3:30 and 5pm.

And so, I bought a paper to read and did a sudoko puzzle while waiting for the train. The connection to Mondovì was fine and I arrived in less than an hour. Again, thankfully I had a map from Katia's work place and for once did my homework and read up on the town while waiting for the train. Two books both said that there was a funicular from the lower town to the upper historic section of the town. It was about a 10-15 minute walk to the lower town from the train station. I then found the funicular and saw some workers working right in front of the open door. When I asked if the funicular was running or if it was closed for lunchtime, one of the men told me it would be open in 3 months! In October!!

(the not yet working funicular)

So, the only way up was to go back down to the center to find a bus or to walk. I decided to walk...a long long way up up up - about 40 minutes later, I arrived at the top. I guess all those nights walking up the steps to Hotel Doria in Lerici paid off as although I was huffing and puffing, I survived the walk uphill.

Once I arrived, I realized that everything was closed because it was Monday! There was a cool tower which was closed, and a couple of churches which were closed due to restoration work.

(clock tower in upper town of Mondovì)

(main piazza in upper town of Mondovì)

The main piazza was quite lovely. I took some pictures and walked around a little and then inquired about the bus for the ride back down. I met a lady waiting at the bus stop that was quite amazed that I walked up hill. She was very nice and even gave me her phone number in case I ran into any problems while in Torino as she lived right outside Torino.

Back down in the lower town, I wandered around a little more, took some pictures, had a gelato, and then realized that I only had 10 minutes til my train left. I walked as fast as I could and also ran a little up hill again (but only a little hill) and arrived with 2 minutes to spare to then find out that the train would be 10 minutes late.

(2 pics of the lower town)

(another picture of the lower town of Mondovì - up at the
top of the picture is the upper town...a long walk up up up!)

Once back in Saluzzo, I stopped in a little shop to get some food for dinner and then headed back to the hotel to pack.

Tuesday morning, the owners' son drove me to the train station in Savigliano so that I would not have to leave so early. While waiting for the train, an announcement was made about the train being late. I panicked as I heard Torino to Savona and thought for a minute that the train that arrived a few minutes earlier was my train and I was waiting for the train from Torino to Savona instead of the train to Torino. All the people waiting with me assured me that I did not miss my train and although my train was also late, I did not miss it. My train finally arrived and it was packed. I ended up standing in one of the areas where you get on/off the train which is between 2 of the cars for the 50 minute ride. My nano ipod has come in handy for occasions like this!

I will write more later on Torino where I am now....

ciao!