Day 4, Monday, August 13

My allergies are out of control.  It’s really dragging me down, and making me feel rather sluggish.  We went to get the sim card for the phone, went to pick up a few groceries and then to the farmacia (pharmacy) to get some allergy pills.

We went to a restaurant for lunch in a small town called Badia a Passignano.  Our host, Mauro had drawn us a map how to get there, and I had a map from the Tourist Center so I thought we would be able to find it, no problem.  However, we really didn’t know what we were in for.

Now we have had our experiences traveling the very narrow roads of Italy, so I really thought we had seen it all.  Well, today’s adventure really tops anything we have seen in the past.  The small and winding road to the top of the hill that Mauro & Tourist Center indicated would take us to a stop light.  What they didn’t tell us that you had to wait for the green light to proceed.  Yes, I know it makes sense to wait for green, but we thought maybe the light was broken because it wasn’t changing.  So,we proceed to enter a very, very narrow road with a cliff on the left and a wall on the right, and we come face to face with a car coming up the road, followed by several cards lined up behind him.  There is no where to go, so we have to go backwards for what seems like forever trying to go back to the beginning of where we entered.  Talk about tension in the car...I tried to navigate for Jeff, but he was doing okay, just very quiet.  When we got back to the stop light, we realized that the sign by the light said that the red light is for 3 minutes.  This allows time for the cars to pass through. Duh!  When we were backing out, there were some people at the top of the hill laughing at us!  We are your typical crazy American Tourists!!

Frustrated, and not even knowing if this is the right way we ask a kind older gentleman for directions.  He tried very hard to communicate with us, and then said, in his own Italian way that he would take us.  Seriously!  What a great guy.  He got on his scooter and proceeded to take us back to the light where we waited for it to turn to green and we entered the road again.  What a beautiful road!  He took us to the sign that said that we had 3 kilometers to get to the town, and we were good to go.  

The town was home to a beautiful castle, which unfortunately was closed for renovations.  But we had a fabulous lunch at L’Antica Scanderia, which had this beautiful setting against the backdrops of the wine grape orchards.  Delicious meal of Caprese Salad and Ravioli stuffed with cheese and truffles.  What a meal.  

The view from the restaurant where we had lunch!

Time for a nap before we go to eat again.  Still waiting to go see some of the sights like castles and views.  

Had a wonderful diner in a lovel town called Lomale.  The restaurant was a bit touristy, but over all, we enjoyed the meal and the wine.

Ciiao for now!!