Our Funky Little Apartment in Torino

So out of the airport and a 15 min drive through many a high rise slummy apartment blocks into a ancient city. Torino was the original capital of Italy and is a bit older than Roma. It is more of a poor cousin to Roma and it never got the big ancient construction like the colosseum  Ect but it has it's far share of old roman ruins to explore. It some how with all those people seam more sleepy.

Well the cab driver delivers us to the bottom end of the ancient city to a block of Funky Apartments. Not looking to funky from the outside, it looks like it was just a old 8 story building decaying over the centuries. This whole area looks so grey and dirty and dark, quite depressing. No shops for colour just grey smog coated roller shutters all putted down, the area looks deserted. We arrive to a 2 m break in the grey ancient wall with a small sign and reception is access by a electronic glass front door into a central courtyard  and that is where the magic begun.

Like so many of these grey old building it what behind the doors that matter.

It was a  large courtyard with a tall stand of bamboo to one side reaching several up to the sky above through blue glass beads as the ground cover. Our room is on the bottom level so we have access straight onto this space. Our room is on 2 levels with the bed set up on a very easy to access by easy stairs, so that a big relief. We have walked so much and climbed so many stairs that the last thing you want when you get home is a set of hard going stair before bed.

The whole space is quite large for a city pad all timber floors with white walls, a funky lounge and kitchenette and a bathroom on both levels so no need to come down stairs in the middle of the night for a little wee walk...... 

Yep sounding like a old man but life on the road is hard work and I will need a holiday to recover I'm telling ya....

So the lounge sits in front of two story double height windows giving a tall view of the bamboo in the courtyard garden and was great ventilation.

The windows hear are like some many retrofitted double glazed that we have seen on our travels. Got to love them the are great for security and veneration.

They open inward fully  like a door would do with hinges on the side, then with the handle turned in a different direction they operate on a hinge system on the bottom and fall away from the top about 200 mm, a bit disconcerting at first as you think the whole door / window is going to crash down on you. So great when you want some air at night but you want security which you do need.