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| View out towards the town |
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| View from the other side |
The Peñafiel Castle is located in the charming town of Peñafiel and it takes an interesting approach to castle tourism by combining the castle with a wine tour and tasting. The castle itself is massive and shaped like a boat and a large part of it has been turned into a wine museum.
It was mandatory to take a guided tour and for a few euros more you could add on a wine tasting. The tours are at irregular times only being conducted when a sufficient number of tourists have gathered. We ended up waiting about a half hour but it turned out to be a perfect amount of time for us to check out the wine museum. It had a ton of interesting information which would likely be even more interesting if my Spanish was better. The coolest feature however, did not require any fluency in the language. There was a "smell" area with neat little contraptions that held concentrates with various odors. There were covers on the explanation placards so you could challenge yourself if you wanted.
I am normally not a huge fan of guided tours, especially for a castle, but the tour guide was very knowledgeable and provided concise and interesting explanations. There were about 30 people in our group but it didn't feel crowded although some of the ascents through narrow stairways resulted in a queue. The castle is in great shape, mainly due to never have been attacked, and there has been significant investment in the restoration that results in noticeable shine to the place. It was a different kind of castle experience and I'm always happy to see new approaches to castle tourism. Pairing the castle with a wine museum in the heart of wine country is a good idea and I hope it catches on.
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| Smell stations. Twisting the handles results in air being fanned upward. |
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