Turin played host to the 2006 Winter Olympics, so in this time of heightening excitement about London 2012 it seems fitting to look back at the time when winter sports came to the forefront. It also fits well because the Torino olympics actually took place in the Milky Way region, which is where the places I have previously looked at are situated.

Souze d’Oulx, Bardenecchia and Sestriere all were key in holding particular skiing events and the effect the Olympics had on the area is a clear positive even to this day. You will see reminders of it all over, in cafes and bars throughout the towns and on the mountains. The olympics rings are everywhere.

Souze d’Oulx held the freestyle skiing, a pure adrenaline pumping event. Just look at how fast their legs move!

Bardonecchia held the snowboarding, Shaun White competed in his first major olympic event and after a slow start took gold in the half pipe. His name is now synomymous with the sport.

Sestriere was home to the downhill skiing, to this day you can follow the routes the olympians took and see how well you can conquer them. 

Simple Parmesan Crisps

These have to be the easiest things to make, yet they are crispy, salty and addictive. All you need is some grated parmesan and a hot pan. Lay the grated parmesan on the pan ( don’t add any oil!) and when it becomes crispy, carefully slide it off, leave to cool, then break up into uneven crisps. Easy! and much tastier than crisps out of a packet

Filled dough balls

Another delicious mouthful, take some pizza dough and roll it up into small balls. Heat up a pan of olive oil and drop the dough balls in. Turn them so they get golden brown and crispy all over and them transfer them to some kitchen paper to get rid of the excess oil. Next for the filling, you can use anything you like, but my favourites are feta cheese for extra saltiness, salami, capers, sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella. Just make a hole in the ball and put in your filling. Delicious.

Tomato and Basil salad

A lovely, fresh tomato salad is the perfect antipasto. Slice or dice some tomatoes, a little olive oil, chopped garlic, pinch of salt and then tear some basil over the top. Serve with some ciabatta bread.

Salami and cold meats platter

Another classic antipasto, slices of salami, chorizo, prosciutto all laid out on a platter, maybe with a chunk of parmesan and some chilli jam for a bit of spice.

1. Caffe della Seggiovia 

This was my favourite of all the bars in Souze d’Oulx, a great local beer selection along with a perfect sunbathing area make it a must. It is situated on the main street near the ABC ski pass shop. If you go in through the back, you’ll be greeted by a lovely decking area, with oddly shaped wooden chairs and circular tables. This is where we sat as the sun was beating down and it felt more like a summer holiday than skiing in early March. The interior was nice too, a large wooden bar with glasses hanging over it and few small screens showing sport or news. It felt traditional, but all tastefully done. Also having Italian Waiters was a nice change to the British ones in many of the other places.

2. Hotel Gran Trun Wine Bar

This was the hotel where we stayed, though from the signs outside you would think it was primarily a wine bar. It has the feel of an underground cellar, with brick arches and a cavernous eating area. Various bottles of spirits cover the back wall and they have a good selection of drinks, from Guinness to Moretti to cocktails. Take a seat at one of the old wine barrels and enjoy the evening. Though one thing to note is that this is an early bar, so does not stay open late.

3. Max’s Bar

This was a small bar situated in the centre of the town and about two minutes from the ski lifts. It has a happy hour, i think from about 5-7 in the evening and at this time they offer discounts and deals on the drinks. A nice little place for a bit of Aprés Ski.

& One to avoid!

Paddy McGintys – Irish Bar and Pub

As you can probably tell by the name this place is trying to recreate a tradition Irish pub. It fails. The inside is dark, dingy and the floor is covered in something that makes a sticking noise when you lift your feet. We went in to try to watch some football and would have quickly left if it was not the only place showing the match we wanted. It was packed and there was a decent atmosphere, but that was probably because there was rubgy on the tv. With all the others places offering much nicer surroundings I would advise avoiding this Irish pub wannabee.

The hotel is run by a Liverpudlian, Sarah, and she is really one of the highlights of the hotel. Very helpful, friendly and is the heart of the place. She seems to do everything on her own, running the bar, making the breakfast and dealing with the visitors. She speaks perfect Italian so if you have any problems while you are there I am sure she would help.

The rooms themselves are all en-suite and decorated in a rural style, with old skiing posters advertising the area on the walls. The beds were comfy, though maybe could have done with an extra pillow, but that is probably just me. Our room had three single beds, a small tv and a decent sized wardrobe. There were not too many plug sockets, so if you are planning on charging a lot of phones and cameras you may have to be patient. However the main highlight was the fantastic bathroom and if you have ever been skiing then you will know how important this is. The shower was huge and very powerful, perfect to relax your muscles in after a tiring day. The hot water also was plentiful, unlike many places we have stayed in the past.

Head downstairs and you will find the wine bar, which also doubles as the breakfast area. It is large with a cavernous feel, there is a comfy sofa near the bar which is perfect for large groups. But if your too late to get this then the old wine barrels and high chairs make great places to enjoy a drink. Throughout the evening antipasti (small plates of food) circulate throughout the bar. These included crisps, pretzels, nuts and an interesting anchovy paste on toast, being free these are a great addition to any drink. Guinness and Moretti along with a few others were on draught and many other bottled beers, wines and spirits were available at the bar, so something for everyone. A nice bonus is the free wi-fi, so if you have your laptop or phone you can connect and check your emails and such like.

If you are heading out for a long day of skiing then the best way to kick it off is with a filling breakfast. Served in the bar area, the breakfast is a serve yourself, buffet affair and includes a great selection of things like breads, ham, cheese, croissants, yoghurt, fruits, cereals.. need i say more? Freshly made coffees are also served and the cappuccino was great.

I could not rate the Gran Trün more highly, it has everything you need, with no hassle and is the perfect base from which to explore the local area.

However, in my eyes, the king of Italian food is the pizza. I can think of nothing that i would prefer to eat than a proper Italian pizza, and in Souze d’Oulx we most definitely found that.

On a recommendation from our hotel manager we headed to La Griglia Pizzeria. The restaurant is not situated in the main part of town, so you have to follow the backstreets to find it, but it was only about a 5 minute walk from the centre of the town.

Head down the stairs from the entrance and through the door and you will find yourself in a bustling pizzeria, almost always full of people. The first time we went we had to be squeezed in the corner and the second time we could not even get a table without waiting for about an hour. The quality was apparent.

Inside, La Griglia had a rustic feel,wooden chairs and tables took up the majority of the floor and it felt very traditional, with brick cladded arches snaking up to the ceiling. The staff were very friendly and for a nice change to many places in the area they did not speak any English.

After a thorough look at the menu, which apart from pizzas included meat dishes and salads, I decided upon the Diavolo, a pizza topped with local spicy salami, not like the normal milano salami but something with a lot more spicy flavour. It has to be said that I am never normally adventurous when choosing pizza toppings, I think a pizza should be simple.

There were about thirty or so other pizzas to choose from so I am sure most people will find one to their tastes.

After a salivating wait the pizzas arrived and they looked and smelled amazing. The bubbling cheese and crispy bases instantly made me want a slice. I usually think the best pizzas come with the thinnest base possible. I had, until this one, my favourite pizza in a corrugated iron topped farm shack in the Tuscany region of Italy. That pizza was about half a meter wide and as thin as paper, yet it still held the topping perfectly. But the base at La Griglia was a little thicker, but was cooked perfectly, crispy and still soft when you take a bite. It was clear it came from the a proper pizza oven.

After eating the entire thing I still felt like I could happily eat another, they were that good. If your not a fan of the Diavola, then the Calzone looked great too, along with the Olympic themed 2006 pizza, topped with rocket and parmesan.

If you’re in Souze d’Oulx do yourself a favour and spend an evening at La Griglia, you will most definitely not regret it.

After a two hour drive from Milan Malpensa airport we arrived in Souze d’Oulx, after a brief and clueless drive around we found our quaint little hotel down one of the side streets in the old part of the town. Situated opposite a very modern looking design shop was our hotel, The Gran Trun. At first glance it advertised itself as more of a wine bar than a hotel, however we went in, bags in tow and were met by a lovely woman from Liverpool. We collected our keys and went to our rooms, tired from all the travelling we had done.

Now, I will give a whole post to the fantastic hotel we stayed in so stay tuned and that should be uploaded sometime over the weekend.

After a moment to recover from journey, we headed out to get a feel of the town and to pick up our skis and boots. We pre-booked our equipment over the internet before we left from Ski centre clotes, so it was easy enough to find the shop, situated right at the bottom of one of the Sauze d’Oulx slopes and make ourselves noticed by one of the very friendly members staff.

Just a quick note here, the staff at Ski centre Clots were fantastic and believe me we have experienced some very poor staff while renting skis in the past. Every morning when we collected our skis we were met by a charming man who even remembered our names and quickly got our skis so we could get going.

Oh and another thing, it is far cheaper to book your equipment before you travel than just turning up at a random shop on the day you arrive. Also if your planning on renting helmets then booking them online will cost you 9 euro each for four days. If you went direct to the store that would of been about 27 euro for the same amount of time.

Once we were all kitted out we set about planning our first days route. After a little deliberation we decided to start with the mountains in Souze d’Oulx itself, just so everyone could get back in the swing of things.

The Sauze d’Oulx slopes were good, but due to the recent hot weather, the snow was not the best, forcing us higher to escape the fake snow machines. Ironically, it was snowing quite heavily on this day. We explored many of the runs, finding some good red runs that ran all the way back down into the town. Red runs seemed to make up the majority of Sauze d’Oulx, however many of them were not difficult and would not have looked out of place being labelled as blues. We probably went on the majority of the runs around the area and none of them were too difficult, however some of lower slopes became quite icy in the afternoon so these are best to be avoided.

We found the Gran Pista run to be good and the accessibility to all the runs was simple as the clotes chair lift, which became very busy in the morning, was the only direct way to get on the mountain, so everything runs from there. We found it best to get the Clotes lift up then directly followed by the lift to the immediate lift, I don’t recall if it was named. This got you quite high fairly quickly.

If your looking for more challenging runs then Sauze d’Oulx is probably not for you, but there are plenty of blacks coming up in Sansicario and Sestriere so stay tuned.

Packed into the rectangle of Aluminium is a 4GB flash drive, a 3 inch touch screen, micro HDMI port and an Auto-focus 5mp stills camera, along with the 1080p video camera.

All the footage you record and the photos you take are stored on the internal flash memory, so there is no need to buy extra SD cards. At 4GB’s you can get about 40 minutes of 1080p video, increasing to 2 hours if you record at 720p.

There are only three buttons on the camera, one for turning it on and off, one is a double stage shutter button for taking still images and possibly the most important of them all the is the big button on the front which when pressed begins to record the video. All other functions are controlled by the touch screen. I found the screen to be fairly responsive, not quite up there with an iPhone but still easy to use and as the on screen controls are quite big you won’t have much trouble making a selection. One minor problem is the quality of the screen, it can be quite hard to get a full idea of the video or image quality on the device because the screen looks a little yellow and washed out.

The software is very simple and there are not many options to play around with. You can change the quality of video, going from 720p 30 FPS, 720p at 60 FPS and 1080p. The same goes with photos with the only manual options being able to change the quality from 12 megapixels to 8 megapixels and 2 megapixels. Obviously changing the quality of the images will increase the amount you can store. You can easily scroll through all your photos and watch your videos on the device.

To transfer the content to your computer there is no need for a cable of any kind, just simply press the bottom and a USB arm pops out allowing for direct connection to either a PC or Mac. When you connect it to a Mac running OSX it will automatically open iPhoto allowing you to quickly import. If you’re on a PC then you can use the supplied software, which should open the first time you connect the camera.

If you want to view your content on the big screen then you can connect the camera to an HD television through the micro HDMI port on the side. However you will have to buy this separately as there is not one included in the box, though they can be picked up very cheaply.

I found the video quality to be pretty excellent, very good colours and amazing detail for such a small device. I used it to record some footage while I was skiing and the inclusion of image stabilisation takes away some of jitteriness you would normally expect. Also the inclusion of 60 FPS recording gives a very smooth looking video. It managed to pick very small details in the snow and it focuses itself so there is no need to worry about it being out of focus. There is also a lanyard which can be attached to the bottom so you don’t need to worry about dropping it.

On the still photo front things aren’t quite as strong, the 12 megapixel photos are definitely not as good as with a dedicated stills camera and it can be a couple of seconds between when you press the shutter button to when the photo actually saves. Also as there is no flash you will have little luck if your taking photos at night.

Overall the Sony Bloggie Touch is a great little device and at £110 it is cheaper than a lot of other small video cameras. It will fit with no trouble into your ski jacket so you can quickly bring out when the moment arises. The footage is great and with no need for a USB cable you can plug it straight into a computer. Obviously if you have cash to spare then i’d recommend something like the GoPro HD Hero as this is made specifically for sport but these retail for close to the £250 mark, but for the money the Sony Bloggie is a great buy.

The Bag – Paul Smith Union Jack style holdall

I went through loads of bags before I finally got this one, even for a while using a big blue bag from Ikea. This bag is perfect for hand luggage as it fits all the tough requirements cheap airlines put on baggage these days. It has plenty of room inside and a few padded pockets for some of the more delicate things. As you would expect with Paul Smith the bag is made fantastically and feels like it could last a lifetime, each part feels sturdy and full of quality.

iPhone 4

The perfect travel device and while it is always in my pocket rather than my bag i felt it had to be included. Not really much can be said about the phone which hasn’t already but it is a quality device and still feels like a top of the range product nearly 2 years after release.

Macbook Air 13inch

Last year I got the new Macbook Air to replace my 7 year old Macbook Pro and I have to say it was a great choice. The Air is perfect for travelling as its so thin and weighing just over 1 kilo, yet it is very powerful and all the tasks that I use it for such as photo and video editing it breezes through. The screen is fantastic for watching films and the battery life will easily outlast a European flight.

iPad 1st generation 

If I’m honest the iPad has not been used as much recently as the Macbook is just as portable, but it is still a great device. I never upgraded to the iPad 2, but the first generation is perfect for me and the majority of apps still work with it.

Notepads

Not at all technical but something that is always needed. I cannot really take notes on anything else apart from paper, it is just so much quicker to write than type so having a notepad around is essential.

Canon Ixus 130

I took all the photos you will see in the upcoming posts and on the Flickr feed with this camera and I think the quality of the camera was excellent. It was fast to turn on, essential to capture that perfect ski photo and the zoom did not deter the quality of the photos. It is also a perfect size to slide into a small coat pocket. A great little camera.

Jawbone Jambox

This small block box may look like a lego brick but it is actually a really high quality sounding wireless speaker. Instead of plugging the speaker into your phone or computer you just connect them together by Bluetooth. I was very surprised by the sound quality and the battery lasts a good 9 hours so you won’t run out of juice in a hurry.

National Geographic Traveller Magazine

As with taking notes, I am not a fan of reading on the iPad. I just think the screen doesn’t really work for looking at text for long periods. So I always take a real magazine with me for a plane journey. This travel magazine was a cheap subscription through Groupon and has great photography and well written pieces. A great magazine if your a travel fan.

The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi

I’m not really a big novel reader but I have to read this tale of growing up for my course, so put it in my bag for the trip. Definitely better than I expected.

Other bits – chargers, adaptors etc.

I also seem to forget when I go away to take a European plug adaptor with me and that is a real pain. My bag also seems to fill with countless tangled chargers, hopefully one day one charger will be sufficient to charge everything.

This year our destination was Souze d’Oulx, a small village in the Milky Way ski region in Italy. About a two hour drive from Milan Malpensa airport.

Souze d’Oulx itself is a village of two halfs, one side is a classic Italian village, full of fine restaurants and crumbling old buildings full of beautiful architcture. Walk through this part and things change a little into a bustling ski village, full of, I thought quite surprisingly, cockneys and scousers. This part of the town is made up of countless bars, all catering to the apres ski crowd.

As with many Italian towns food is a large part and you can find some great places to eat in Souze, I shall get into some of the best places in an upcoming post.

So check back in the coming days for many more posts of my time in Souze d’Oulx.

Enjoy!