Victoria

I did not tell you about our hotel here in Torino, the Victoria. It is in the center of the old city, close to cafes, shops, museums, and the like. The two notable aspects are (1) the breakfast and (2) the spa. Breakfast (for which they have won an award, from whomever gives out the awards for best-hotel breakfasts) is a lavish buffet, with assorted cheeses, ham and salami, croissants (regular, chocolate, and filled with marmalade), breads and rolls, desserts (linzer torte, fruit tart, chocolate cake, cheese cake, cookies, etc.), hard and soft boiled eggs, various cereals, fruits (fresh, as salad, and dried), nuts (hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts), greek yogurt, cottage cheese, fresh grapefruit and blood-orange juice, an amazing assortment of preserves and nut-butters (I tried the pistachio-butter; it tastes like, well, pistachio). I saw a super-model type one day eat nuts and a piece of toast. But we love the soft-boiled eggs (fresh, with orange-y yolks and cooked just right, precisely three minutes), eaten with toast with ham. Also the baked apples (with the core removed and the space filled with currants, pine-nuts and cinnamon) with some yogurt. And OJ and cappuccino, of course. (Then, to go, a pain-au-chocolat wrapped in a napkin, and a blood orange. Some dulce and vitamin-C for later in the day.

The spa has a roman-style pool and whirlpool (for more photos, go to LINK, left). There are jets that come out at your back, of course, but also two at calf-level (one for each leg), and then two from the floor, for the bottom of your feet. There is also a great steam-room with an adjacent aromatic shower. This is a semi-darkened, tiled room with a shower-head that is like a waterfall. Then in the ceiling there is another fixture that sprays warm water over your head that is either “tropical” (which smells like citrus, and an orange glow come on in the room) or “strawberry” (blue light). There are also spa-treatments available but we have not done these. The only negative is that it does not open until noon so it’s not available for a morning swim and we are usually out all afternoon and evening, but we went a couple times.