Montalcino and Castello Banfi

After spending what felt like 2 weeks but was really only 4 days helping Siena with her varicella (chicken poxs) I set out on a day trip with Sam to plan a route to Castello Banfi (Banfi Castle) which is a winery that the guests on the upcoming tour would be visiting for lunch and a wine tasting. Not realizing the time constraints of the tour group we took the senic route up to the castle stopping in a lovely little town for lunch. The town had some great buildings and a sacred art museum which Sam said is great but we did not have time to go into. The best thing about this town is that it still has the doors to the town which are these 40ft wooden doors which are probably at least 6 inches thick. I don't think that close them anymore but it was quite an experience to see them. It made me feel so very small (not that I ever feel particularly tall :-).  After lunch we continued on to Montalcino where we needed to pick up some bowls that Pam had ordered several months ago and get something for Siena for her Birthday. Montalcino was another very pretty town which had lots of hills. It was also at the top of a large hill and the view from the fortress which was at the top of the town was amazing. On the drive up we had been going through all of these beautiful rolling hills, with various corps in them and amazing vallys and from the fortress of Montalcino you could see across all of this. After this we went on to Castello Banfi, which was on top of another large hill overlooking the vineyards which are used at the winery. The winery, restraunt and tasting room are all located in the castle which has been beautifully restored. You can see some of the castle at the Banfi website on the slide show tour http://www.castellobanfi.com/

After taking a quick peak around we began the journey back home with a stop in Siena to pick up a van for the tour. When we picked up the van I got to drive the car back from Siena. That was an intresting experience. I had for some reason expected it to be a lot different then driving in the United States but in reality other then the road signs it wasn't all that different. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and I was very excited that I was able to turn into the alleyway that leads to the parking lot without crashing the car because there is about an inch on either side of the car as you drive down the alleyway (well maybe a little more room than that but it seems like only an inch).That was about it for exciting moments. I don't have any pictures of this beautiful day because both Sam and I forgot our cameras. Oh well there is always next time.

Ciao