Turin to Genoa

Easy day today.  Started in Turin, walked around the town centre, had a bite to eat and visited the Duomo where the Shroud of Turin is housed.  Purportedly this is the shroud Jesus was wrapped in after his death.  It is a very nondescript cathedral for the housing of such a significant item of Christendom. The Shroud is locked in vaults and we could only see photos of it.  Turin is a very pretty city, it hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics and had a major facelift at that time, the effects are obvious in the tree lined streets and crisp clean city centre.
On the road to Genoa, arrived about 2 and went looking for a laundry before we board our ferry to Sicily.  Eventually found an information centre, they directed us to a laundry, did the laundry while eating gelati.We found a pirate ship in the harbour, built and used in the Roman Polanski movie Pirate.  We took a photo for the children.  We decided to get to the ferry terminal early, didn’t want to miss the boat which was due to leave at 11pm.  Had to be there at 9pm for check-in and boarding.  Got there about 6.30, parked the car and went into the terminal area which is a little like an airport lounge with shops, bars and cafes.

Had tea there and watched as our ferry docked and unloaded.  A couple of hundred semi-trailers were driven off by various means and about a hundred cars.  The ferry is not just a simple car ferry, it is HUGE.  It has 3 passenger decks and 5 vehicle decks.  Fascinating watching all the activity.  It took 2 hours to unload at a frantic pace.  Finally drove on-board and made it to our cabin.  It is up near the pointy end and to Pams delight – it has a porthole so we can see the ocean.  It’s all hands on deck and ships ahoy me hearties, weight the anchor and full steam ahead!!! (They’re Pams words anyway)

We went up to the rear deck to watch Genoa slip away and got to bed about midnight.

We had a lot of fun in northern Italy.  Pam wants to bring the girls back to visit shops in Florence, Milan and Turin.  I’ll get the boys back and have another drive through the Alps.

The church where the Shroud of Turin is housed.

Outside the Cathedral

With statue

Town square Turin before rush hour.

Turin Castle - we walked right into the middle of a protest of some sort, hundreds of people gathering with flags and chanting slogans.  Buses dropped them off in their droves.

Pirate ship at Genoa.

Pam looking for crew for the pirate ship - I'm sure William, Elliott and Felicity would love to join her.

Pam waiting for her ship to come in.....

Genoa from the harbour.

Here's our ship, only a little late.

Coming in to unload.

Dropping the ramps down.

Everything had been transported from Palermo. Dozers.

Trucks, buses.

Google mapping cars.

Big, big monster cars.

This is the best shot I could get of these machines.  They are mostly single seater, single drive 'prime movers'.  They load and unload trailers from the ferry.  There are about 10 of them, they drive in, hook up, with an hydralic ram under the turnplate, they lift the trailer off the stands and drive out of the ferry.  The trailers are parked and in they go again.  They have about 10 gears and they use every single one of them in the 200 metres they need to do the job and drive so fast the trailers lean and the tyres squeal.  Very scary to watch.  They would have taken out over 200 trailers this way and took over an hour to finish the job in between semi-trailers and cars coming out.

Genoa from our ferry as we leave.