Saturday 23 September (Day Six)
Saturday is market day! Well, every day is market day to be honest. However, on Saturday there’s an antique/flea market in the adjacent streets of Balon. I’ve not usually bothered with that market but it’s *right there* and it was wild. Dozens of stalls and blankets stretched on the cobblestones, ranging from real antiques to garage sale goods and bits and pieces of this and that. The streets of Balon are rough and the walls covered with streetart and graffiti, sadly much of the latter scrawling and political statements. The area is multi-ethnic but looks predominantly Arabic and North African. It’s hard to take photos here, like in many flea markets I’ve visited elsewhere in Europe. You can get anything from dirty looks to shouts of No Photo! To threats. I try to imagine why this is but think about stolen goods or illegals. It adds to the feeling of chaos and adventure.
But there are some nice things here and Krish spots a coffee book table about Torino but we don’t have much change and I teach him the art of haggling. I wonder if he’ll use it again later. There’s a few people selling toiletries and jewellery but much of what’s on offer is heaps of discarded toys and clothing and household goods. Still very interesting. Some people have whole table cloths and blankets spread out while others have smaller tea towel sized plots. Each is guarded by their owner, expecting sales. I am drawn to a large blanket covered with very colourful toys – dolls, toy cars, action figures. I want to come back and look at this again. There’s a restaurant at the first junction – the smell is tantalising and the menu looks good and cheap but I’ve promised myself meals at home today. I leave, promising myself that I’ll come armed with small bills and change another day.
Out of the market we amble into the Quadrilatero that runs into the Porta Palazzo food market. We rediscover a toy store from our last visits and I know I want to come back and buy things here. The window is fantastic and I’ve never gone inside. I check out some of the Chinese stores – find fish sauce for another day, and strike it with finding tiger balm. Then we go in search of lentils to make dhal – I’ve read I can find them in a store close to the market. They’re there! As are many peas, beans, spices and seeds and the like – in packages and in bulk. They cost more than expected but now we know where to find them.
The market is heaving today and thank goodness we have a short list. Tables are groaning under huge cauliflowers, bushels of tomatoes, onions, garlic, tangerines, grapes, fantastic looking mushrooms…it’s overwhelming. I duck into the covered market (one of four here in the square) and buy a square of pizza to fortify myself against the crazy shopping ahead, even for the few items I know I need. Today I know I want to make risotto, and some meat balls for pasta at the very least so the various ingredients get hunted down. Even more so today, the merchants aren’t pleased with small orders but we love the egg stall, where nothing is too little and nothing is too much trouble.
Very happy to leave the market today and we know we will avoid Saturdays in the future.
Another nice rest in the afternoon after a lunch of arancini and salad.
Then after 6 we leave for the museum. There are a lot of people in line but we hang in there and it’s not long before we head down to the starting point. I’m very pleased that the small entry fee tonight includes an audio guide. I’ve never been very good at following these but I feel determined today.
Leaving the ticket hall, escalators take you up a few flights to begin the tour. All together there are three permanent exhibitions and two temporary. There’s just too much to tell you about the museum itself. Its one of the largest collections of Egyptian artifacts with more than 30,000 items on display.
Turin has been collecting artifacts since 1630. There are paintings, parchments, statues, sarcophagi, mummies, tombs, and more. It’s very impressive. The most impressive room is on the ground floor and in q dark hall, statues of various kings are spotlighted – it’s pretty stunning. We aren’t really museum people but we arrived at about 6:45 and didn’t leave until almost 11pm as the doors were closing, and we left knowing that we hadn’t seen it all.
We walked back through the dark, then illuminated streets, through some wonderful arcades and courtyards and then finally through the Quadrilatero where there were crowds of people in party mode. Near the end of the road a great band was playing and we want to go back and find them when we’re not quite so weary and ready for bed.
