Ok joke's on me. The whole time we were on this little trip I'm about to explain, we thought we were in Castellina in Chianti. Except after trying to describe to my host family what I did, they seem to think I was in fact not there, but in Monteriggioni. Oops. No wonder there was some confusion…
Ok, so….
Jerrod's host dad told him about a beer festival happening close to Siena, so him, Erin, Ariel and I decided it was a must. We've been having cravings for good beer in Italy, its kinda hard to find. We found out we were headed to Castellina Scalo and that you can take a 15 min train ride to the town. Perfect.
We had started our day off in town trying to book tickets for hostels and trains for our trips to London and Paris. Jerrod had his computer for this and wanted to drop it off at home before we headed out to to the festival. He lives about a 20- 30 minute bus ride out of the city. So we all hopped on his bus and headed out into the country side. Then he realized that once we got dropped off, there would be a bus coming in only about 10 minutes to take us back into the city and that its the only one for another 2 or 3 hours. Yikes. He also informed us that where the bus drops him off is about 3/4 of a mile away from his house still...
We get off the bus and Jerrod takes off running down the road with his backpack. We were left in charge of waiting for the bus, and if it came early, begging the driver to stay for just one minute! Jerrod made it back in time, a bit sweaty from his mid distance sprint tho.
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| Part of our walk up to the Beer Fest |
We finally got on the train once we were back in town and we were off to Beer Fest! I thought we had a pretty small station in Siena, but when we got off in Castellina Scalo I thought differently. We were in a super tiny town. But thats when Jerrod informed us that Castellina means little castle and we were actually going to a beer fest IN A CASTLE! What?! no big deal, they just do things like that here in Italy. (Not even sure now if this is true… Jerrod, I put too much trust into you and your ability to speak Italian)
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| Well, it looks like a castle doesn't it? |
Thank God for Erin having her iPhone. She navigates us all over the place when we're lost. I don't know what we'd do half the time without her. We got a route on her phone on how to get up to the castle and started walking down the highway like a bunch of foreigners. I don't think its very common here because people were giving us some pretty funny looks. We realized about half way that there was a dirt path down the hill a little that we probably should be on.
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| One of the many vineyards |
It really wasn't that far of a walk at all. It's all in perspective though because we have walked our asses off here, so everything seems pretty conquerable. 1/2 hour walk to get a glass of wine? no biggie. A 3.5 mile walk to the discotecha? whatever. A trek across town and then up a mountain to a castle for beer? Piece of Cake.
On the way up the hill to the castle there were grapes just growing on the side of the path. They're small but pack so much flavor! We may or may not have also snuck into a vineyard as well and picked a few clusters from the vines. Nothing said no trespassing, we're just dumb Americans right? We don't understand! Thats the argument I have in my head for if I ever do get caught doing things in Italy that I shouldn't be.
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| Grapes that I may or may not have picked from the vineyard... |
Finally at the Castle! We walk in through an archway (and up the slickest cobblestones I've ever been on, holy crap!) and into the Beer Fest! It was so cool! The stands for the microbrews were set up in kinda the central courtyard area. It wasn't huge, but very local feeling and not a ton of people. There were 9 different breweries with about 3 or 4 beers each to try. The way it worked was you purchased tickets for either samplers, small beers or large ones. We all decided to buy 10 sampler tickets for 10 Euro. The sampler size was about that of a dixie cup, so it was just perfect to taste.
There was a man dressed in kinda a peasant outfit running around with a basket full of bread for everyone. I think it was supposed to be a pallet cleanser but it was more like my appetizers.
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| The Bread Man! |
Most of the booths had a Blonde, a Nero (a stout), and a Rossa (it's kinda like an amber, or the closest thing to it. ) The Rossa beers were really good from almost every booth, I think that was my favorite category of the evening. We tried about 5 of our tasters and then we couldn't resist the restaurant that was next to the event. I had amazing gnocchi with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. It was one of my favorite things I've had here.
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| Just being a Fat American. Gnocchi is the best. |
I was all excited because there was Celtic music starting at 9 and I was hoping it was going to be really fun, but once they started it was so quiet you couldn't really hear it which was disappointing.
I tried one taster from each of the 9 breweries, and then had one ticket left to get my favorite one again, it worked out perfectly and was just the right amount of beer. All ten samplers probably only amounted to 2 or 2 1/2 pints, but keep in mind that it is all 6 or 7%.
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| Drinking birra in an ancient setting. Couldn't get more cool. |
The whole night was a lot of fun and it was just such a neat setting for a beer tasting. I definitely want to go back another day and see how much of the old castle grounds you're allowed to explore.
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| Me, Erin, Ariel, Jerrod |
We had checked the train schedule to make sure we could get home and there was supposed to be a train every hour until 1. We left the castle a little after ten to make the 11:15 train home. We got back down the mountain and to the city way quicker than the way up and we were at the train station at like 10:45. The station isn't even a building you go into, it has just a little area kinda more like a covered bus stop with a ticket vending machine. We all got our tickets and sat down thinking we had about a half hour to wait for the train. In about 5 minutes there is a train that pulls up and we kinda stand up, like is this ours? its WAY early. We also realized we needed to be on the other platform so in a panic we have to dart down the stairs and under the tracks and as we come up on the other side the doors shut and the train leaves. We were all convinced that it couldn't have been our train because it was so early and didn't wait around. So we wait until 11:15, no train. 11:30 no train. We accepted that we had missed our train, so we would just have to wait for the next hour's to arrive. So we waited. And went back into the tiny so called train station. And all huddled together on the bench for warmth, because it is damp, and freezing. And then we moved back out to the platform to wait for our train again. I wish I could see a picture of us at that time. Jerrod's in the middle of the bench, he's got Ariel laying down into his lap from one side, Erin from the other, I'm huddle next to Erin, and he's got his arms around the whole of us as we shiver and wait for the nonexistent TrainItalia. Until about 1:20. NOTHING. Also, right at 1:00 all the lights at the station just shut off all at once. It felt like something out of a horror story. It was a foggy night out and we're kinda out on the edge of town with a field behind us and the moon making creepy shadows out of everything.
Then Erin got her phone back out and we started looking at the schedule again when we noticed that when you scroll all the way to the right on the last 1:00 train arrival, it says Autobus next to it. What?! Right at one when we were all startled by the lights turning off, a big greyhound bus came to the other side of the station area and then disappeared. The train just turns into a bus. WTF. Italy, sometimes you befuddle me. Unless you are a local and take these busses and trains on a regular basis, you would have no freaking clue that the train magically turns into a bus at 1 am. What is this?! Cinderella?
So onto plan B. We walked back around the station to the street and just kinda stand there staring off into the town like Now what? We thought we'd try to call a taxi, we really were not that far from Siena. That wasn't exactly working though because we couldn't find a separate number for Castellina Scalo taxi (because it doesn't exist) and when you call Siena Taxi you get an automated answer…
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| One of the rooms in the apartment |
As we are standing there thinking about trying to find a hotel, this guy gets out of his car and I get his attention to ask him about a hotel and if it was even possible at that time of night. It took a while to get things across, another guy (his brother I think) came from across the street to help, the 1st guy drove to the hotel and back to see if it was open or not, it wasn't, he got the number and called, no answer at first, called again, and then he got a guy who through the hotel service rents out this house/apartment type thing. The poor guy was of course already in bed and its really his parents that own the place. We all end up piling into the 1st guys car, he drives to pick up the apartment guy, and we all drive just a little ways outside the town to this apartment. He gets us in, shows us around we pay him and get things figured out with how to check out. The place was really nice! There was a queen bed, a pull out couch and a twin bed, it was really clean and had a tiny little kitchen. Not that we used anything besides the beds in the 7 hours we were there… And there was a pool outside! Kinda a fancy place. We paid about what you would pay in the states for a kinda ok average hotel room, and we were staying in a private apartment in the countryside with a pool and a fantastic view (as we found out in the morning). It's really too bad we couldn't stay and enjoy it a little longer. (And it was a legit deal, there were papers on the back of the door with the rates and business name and such, I have to throw that in because it may sound like the process of getting it was a little sketchy)
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| The pool outside our hotel/apartment |
The next morning we got up at 9, left the key in the door like the guy told us (oh, small towns) and started our walk back to the town. We really hadn't driven that far, so we knew it was a do-able walk, but we had done it in the dark the first time so it was sorta a guessing game. It took a couple of wrong turns and a little backtracking but finally we were at the dreaded train station once again.
A train really did come this time. And we got on it. Finally.
I had a lot of explaining to do to my host family who I had told I was going to a beer fest, but I didn't know where it was and I'd be back that night probably around midnight. I had called before we left the hotel in the morning and Loriano, the grandpa only could understand where I was, so I called Cinzia and she was even more confused and so I just had to keep saying "its ok, I will be home in probably an hour or 2" (could have been 3 or 4 or 24 hours, who knows with TrainItalia)
We finally got back to Siena, I went home, and the grandma Carla was the only one there. I did a pretty good job trying to tell her what happened, she seemed really nonchalant about it, kinda laughed and said "its an adventure!" (in Italian of course, I've never heard an English word out of her). Then later Loriano shows up and I go back through my story as best I can with very limited vocab. He is not so impressed. He asked how we got from the station to the festival and I said we walked. And he's like its 7 kilometers! And I was like, no the sign says 3! It only took us 30 minutes! And he argues back saying he spent 30 years working there, he should know, and I'm like well ok, I should believe you then, but somehow we musta taken a crazy shortcut I guess. That was the first time I had a little doubt about where we had actually gone.. Well he kinda freaks out and shakes his head at my and says something along the lines of, "thats so dangerous! there are Russians and Ukrainians! "
uhhhh…. what the?! Hey crazy old man, I don't know why you're always freaking out about the foreigners (its usually the Albanians will get you!) but we were in a town where we maybe saw 50 people total throughout our walk. And it was like a 30 minute walk. Oh and p.s. Russia's not exactly real close. I'm no Geography wiz, but even I know that. Sometimes Loriano just makes me laugh with the things he says. And I just have to continually tell him, Its ok, I was fine, We are fine, we will be fine, I can walk places on my own, or with 3 other people. If I get lectures from walking for a half hour in a town of maybe 1500, I can't imagine the talk thats coming before I leave for London this weekend… ay.
Then I went to dinner at Cinzia's house with her, Giulio, Claudia and her boyfriend Marco. The story had to be re-explained, upon which I found out that we were NOT in Castellina in Chianti. We were in Monteriggioni. Castellina in Chianti is close but its just confusing because thats what the train station is called, and the city that the station is in in Castellina Scalo. Why do they do this?
They all think its just really funny that we were confused about where we were.
It was funny while it was happening, and even funnier now, and well worth the trip to whatever awesome place it was. I don't think we were at a castle, it just kinda looked like it could be one because of the wall around it and such, but I may just keep telling myself it was so that I can be like, Yeah, this one time when I went to Beer Fest in a Castle….
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