Two weeks ago I went to Turin for the first time to see the city and to meet up with some friends from Spain that I hadn’t seen for a long time and who were going there for a Salesian event/pilgrimage. I went there by bus because it is the cheapest but also the slowest transport, I spent 6 hours sitting there but with many stops along the way to stretch my legs.

Some of these friends knew I was coming that weekend to see them, others didn’t, but everyone’s reaction was one of joy and happiness to see me at the Basilica of Maria Ausiliatrice in Turin, because no matter how much time has passed, whether we have spoken more or less, there is always something that unites people and makes it seem as if no time has passed. I know all of them from my time as a monitor in a Salesian youth centre, whether it be from meetings, coexistence, camps as monitors or from the course for monitors that I did in 2019, for me it was very special to meet them again as I had not been able to travel to their cities because of covid. Before they arrived I visited the inside of the chapel and I found all the images, paintings and sculptures that were inside there beautiful, to say that it was bigger and even more beautiful than the cathedral of Torino ….

As the activities were about to start, I decided to have a walk around the city and have something to eat before going to check in at the hostel where I was staying. I rested a bit at the hostel, that means I had a proper nap, and then I went back to the basilica to see an activity they were going to do that I was looking forward to seeing. What a walk I had that weekend as the hostel was about 2 or 3 km from the basilica…. When we finished, I went back to the hostel and went out for a drink with my roommates to get to know each other and socialise.

The next day, they had a tour of the city but from the Salesian side and in the important places we had heard so much about at school after so many years. I asked one of the organisers/monitors if I could do the route with them and she gave me the go-ahead, so I did the route with a group of my friends. Afterwards we all ate together in a very good pizzeria and had an ice-cream. Then we had a celebration and from there we said goodbye until the next one, which none of us knew when it was going to be because if it was already difficult being in the same country, imagine now that I am more than 1000 km away from the whole world. The good thing is that we were able to see each other, catch up on our lives and celebrate everything.

To finish the weekend, I spent the last day in Bologna eating good pasta and ice-cream too, and as I already know the quality places I could take advantage of it and go back to …..

So far my experience in Torino, until the next post where I will tell you about my experience in Austria. I hope you all enjoyed it and that everyone is well.