The drive down to Tuscany from Austria was intense. We first had to get through the Alps, which in this case was precisely the term to use – “through.”
After the nonstop changes from first to second gear and back again, twisting up paved mountain-goat tracks, we landed on a sort of flat spot. We loaded the car onto a train flatbed, which carried us through a tunnel to Mallnitz, Austria. Somehow I'm missing the photos and video from our train trip, but I have a good image in my mind, so will remember it forever anyway.
We stopped at Mallnitz to shop at Billa, the grocery chain, and found that food was quite inexpensive compared with the prices we usually spend at home, so we loaded up supplies for our time at the castle.
Then we went through many kilometers of tunnel to bridge to tunnel to bridge to tunnel to bridge to tunnel to …. well, you get the idea. Lots of curving tunnels. Lots of curving bridges. All in sequence. All at about 120km/hr, which sounds fast until you translate it to miles per hour and really is fast when you're driving it, because let's face it, driving 75mph in a dark, curving tunnel with an insistent Italian on your tail isn't very pleasant.
We've spent a lot of time with maps, none of which seemed to make any difference at the tail end of our drive down, because we got lost anyway and ended up doing some sort of homing-by-the-seat-of-our-pants thing to actually find the castle. It's been that way the whole time here in Tuscany. Maps? Planning? Phoeey! We end up where the roads decide to take us despite our “planning,” and we're always happy with the result.
I can't really capture the essence of this castle in photos. It was rebuilt in the 1200s (after being burned down before that) and is now advertised as “agriturismo” which seems to be a common word on the signs in this region.
The castle clearly was built over lots of time, with wings here and there tacked on. The stairs are stone, and very worn. Each portion of each wing seems to have its own set of stairs and own particular levels, which don't coincide with the levels in other portions of the same wing, let alone the other wings.
The restaurant kitchen is in the level below the main courtyard, and everyone eats outside the restaurant on long tables. It's cheaper to eat at the castle restaurant than elsewhere, and it's cheap to eat elsewhere to begin with.
The huge main gates to the main courtyard are locked at night, and all the little gates leading from the grounds to the outside are locked as well. This clearly was built initially as a fortified residence, with a main courtyard and tower, and subsequently added to in more peaceful times.
The Galeria wing, where our host for the visit is staying, has a very elegant and light-filled space that nobody sits in because it's so amazingly wonderful outside in the courtyard. The apartment also has several bedrooms, a kitchen, and several dining areas reached while climbing up and up and up a never-ending spiral stone staircase. He's sharing that castle apartment with friends and some family, and we're sharing a different space with yet more friends.
The apartment we're in has four bedrooms, a kitchen and little sitting area, overlooking the main courtyard. The base of the windows are at floor level and when I walk to one to look outside, I bump the top of my head on the top of the window opening. But the ceilings are high – ten feet above the windows, sloping up to about thirteen feet, along the spine of this wing.
I wish PapaBoop was here – he could take pictures that might possibly do this place justice. I can't, but it's enjoyable to wander around at different times of day to see how the light streaming through different openings glows on the various stone and wood surfaces in the castle. I've taken a bazillion photos.
Our farmer neighbor in the olive grove has had his tractor out and squeaking, creaking and grinding every morning at 7am (is this what they mean by “agritourism”?) and the sunlight, which has a different quality than I've seen anywhere else, seems to shine out of the leaves on the trees outside our room, rather than on them. My camera can't do the light justice.
The Tuscan landscape is like nothing I've ever experienced. There are hills after hills after hills. The roads wind up, down and over them, with tight curves everywhere, and plenty of switchback turns. The Italians all drive like they think they're Mario Andretti – I can have a clear road behind me one moment, and someone three feet from my rear bumper the next.
Mom has been a great navigator, and has really gotten into her maps.
Today, we're going to look at one of the many hilltop towns in the region, one that we passed by yesterday and didn't have time to see. We can stand on one hilltop and look around and say, "Oh, look! There's a castle! Oh, and another! Oh, hey, another! Oh, look, there's one, too!" They're all over.
Our host Len has done a great job of posting photos of our trip and our companions - you can see them here.
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