Chianti Countryside, Friday, 9/16/22
Farewell Gargonza Castle

An early morning, solitary walk. Kat's Fav Gargonza Castle Memory~

Breakfast on our last morning in the Chianti Countryside is like yesterday's--fresh, hot, delicious and plentiful, but I don't linger. I've got a date with the path that surrounds the hamlet.

Once I find my way down to the road, I have no idea where I am or where I'll end up.  It's a freeing, back-door moment when anything might happen, anything could appear around the next bend. I'm alone and open to whatever this mysterious road offers, and it offers a lot. A stone wall lines one side of the path (the castle just visible on the hill) and on the other is the valley, a steep drop-off where wildness stretches as far as my eye can see. Humans no longer exist. I'm floating back in time.  

Birds are everywhere, madly swooping around the valley singing at the top of their beaks. The bees are busy with their lives, too. Beauty and joy exists on a grand scale this morning. I stop and indulge in it. 

Too soon, it's time to move on. There are other joys around the bend to discover and I do, but soon my walk is over. It's bus time. As I move off the path I see the valley, still glistening with the remains of the pre-dawn mist--just like my favorite Gargonza memory.