June 1st – Siena
We arrived in Siena and had prepared to rent a car by mapping Avis car rental on my phone. We saw it was only .8 miles from the train station so we thought we would walk. Turned out to be uphill the whole way. If you’re unaware….Siena is incredibly hilly! We arrived at Avis to find it had closed at noon since is was Saturday. We decided to walk to city center and look for euro rental (the main rental car company in Europe). My phone gave us walking directions that turned out to be completely wrong, so we took a taxi to euro rental. The worst part was that we were in such a beautiful place and failed to take time to see things. We were in such a rush to get the rental, we made the mistake of not enjoying where we were. We agreed that we will return to enjoy Siena on Monday.
We drove to the place we decided to stay (selected it the day before by doing a little research on the iPad). Steve did such a good job driving, he even drove faster than he should have, just like a local Italian!
My dream has come true as we will be sleeping in a barn the next two nights. I say that for two reasons…first, for dramatic effect and second, because its true!! We’re staying at Le Macie. If you google it, you’ll see this is very much a princess version of a barn…..Well it used to be a barn!!
Today the owners of the vineyard gave us a private tour and wine and olive oil tasting. Guests normally stay one week but since we were only staying two days they took time to show us their vineyard personally. They are so passionate about what they do, it’s inspiring. They package their wine and olive oil and honey under the brand name Terra di Seta (Land of Silk). They explained everything about their business and their vineyard. It was so interesting, we felt humbled that they took such time out of their day to share with us. They are a lovely couple with three boys and are approximately our age. The vineyard has seven rental apartments and it is an absolutely beautiful place. The views from here are breath taking.
Tonight we drove to Vagliagli for groceries and dinner. We are staying in a barn so we need to make our own meals. We picked some wine, beer, coca cola light, cheese, tomatoes, bread & my favorite….CHIPS! We enjoyed dinner before retuning home to relax with a bit of TV (which we cannot understand) and more wine…of course. Wonderful day today.