Three Ferries to Greece or Two Innocents Abroad In A Honda Accord

Monday 13th November 2006

We left the Ibis around 9.30am and headed off along the A43 motorway towards Chamberey and Turin (Torino).  The road fairly soon started to head upwards on a long incline.  We went passed Chamberey which was bigger than we had expected and not very picturesque, more industrialised than we thought it would be.  After the next toll booth we started to see the mountain ranges of the French Alps.  There was a sign for an Aire ahead so we pulled off the road to stretch our legs.  We bought a coffee from the petrol station shop and when we looked around we were stunned by the views and the cold clear air we were breathing.

On a display board was information about the mountain peaks around us which were part of the Albertville Winter Olympics of 1992.  It was a beautiful clear day and although the air was cool the sun was very hot and strong.  The whole area was very quiet, serene and beautiful.  This is Gerry relaxing before the next part of the journey.  When we left the Aire the road was quite clear and we were making good time as we passed into the Mautitaine area of France where we were driving through passes and valleys competely surrounded by mountain ranges.  We then started to encounter tunnels of between 1-4km long and after the toll at St. Michel de Mauritaine the road signs were now indicating Milan, Torino and Fréjus tunnel.

When we arrived at the Fréjus tunnel we expected some sort of customs or passport control because you enter the tunnel in France and exit the tunnel in Italy.  Nothing.  There were two roads up to the tunnel - the left one goes to the toll booth and right one is for lorries which have to pass through a fire detector area into the tunnel.  After paying the 31 euro toll we drove into the tunnel.  The tunnel is 13km (8 miles)long and there was one lorry in the distance ahead and one set of headlights in the distance behind us.  This was very spooky and although the tunnel seems very long at 110km/hour you don't actually spend a huge amount of time in the tunnel.  About half way through you see an Italian EU sign above the roadway to say you have entered Italy.  Out of the tunnel in Italy we expected passport control and customs but all we found was a grotty bit of single carriageway that led straight out and onto the A32 motorway heading towards Rivoli and Torino.

We passed over quite a few viaducts and through quite a few tunnels the longest of which was 4.7km end to end.  The mountains of the Italian side weren't snow covered or as high and generally not as pretty.  Finding nowhere to stop off for lunch we heades straight for Rivoli which a signpost said was 30km away.  Arriving on the outskirts of Rivoli we failed miserably to find the right exit from the motorway to get to the Hotel Campanile!  This was a bit like déjà vu with Lyon.  We turned right towards the town centre of Rivoli but couldn't see any hotel signs.  At a roundabout we turned back and eventually ended up in a supermarket car park.  How crap are we!!

At this point we ditched the idea of staying at the Hotel Campamile and remembered that we had seen some signs for a Hotel Rivoli.  We headed back into Rivoli centre following the signs.  Unfortunately we kept on losing the signs and finding them again.  We managed to see the last sign to the hotel too late and shot passed and straight out of Rivoli to the next town.  We turned back to Rivoli at the next roundabout outside the town and eventually found the right turning into the hotel and arrived in the car park.  The hotel looked shut because the car park was empty and there were no signs of life.  Driving around we found the reception area and went in to the hotel.  The room rate was 90 euro including breakfast which was a result as this was exactly the same as the Campanile.

The time was 2.10pm and we asked the receptionist Sarah, who spoke excellent English, about food.  She said their restaurant was shut but made a few phone calls to local restuarants.  One was able to serve us cold dishes as they had closed the kitchen, so we headed off out of the hotel and through the fields until we found a small village where the over-riding smell was of piggy poops.  we parked and in front of us was the Hostaria Il Borgo.  Mrs Gabriella was expecting us and was at the front door to welcome us.  We had some cold entrée dishes with a glass of sparking white wine followed by Crevettes which turned out to be 8 giant prawns on a bed of lettuce with balsamic vinegar.  We had a bottle of Gavi white wine with the prawns followed by expresso coffee and petit-fours.  The bill came to 39 euro but the experience you couldn't put a price on.  We drove back to the hotel without losing our way!!

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the seats outside reception and then walked out in the evening to find some food.  The hotel is on the edge of Rivoli amongst residential tower blocks and we couldn't find a single eating place open in November and this is probably the only downside to the hotel.  We had a drink in the hotel bar and ate all the crisps and nuts on the counter, then went to bed.