Truly Trulli

 We left Lecce and travelled north to Alborobello - the town famous for a whole in tact village of Trulli (plural) Trullo  (singular).  These little round houses reminded us of hobbit houses!  The area was a mass of tourists with what appeared to be bus load upon bus load of them arriving - all walking the laneways where the locals had small stores selling tourist sourvenirs.  It was interesting to see and wander around but we had no desire to stay  

We walked back to our trusty little Yaris and travelled 30 minutes to Noci for lunch…V4 had the Italian version of a ham cheese and tomato roll, while I had Spaghetti all’s Tonno e limone e capers -very yummy.

The drive north instilled the desolate nature of the south - the vast plains of dryness as around Alborebello, Noci and Matera there are very green fields of wheat - some being harvested, rich red volcanic soil with olives, grapes and we even saw some dairies.  As we got closer to Matera, there were massive wind farms and solar farms as well.  

We stay for the next two nights in Matera - the town known for Sassi - cave houses cut into the hill.  

V4 with the Trulli village in the background

Practising selfies!

Laneways of Alborobello

Symbols whitewashed on Rooves 
A mixture of Christian and pagan meanings

The piazza that leads to the laneways

Laneways up the hills

The trusty Yaris…WIES

 

South, Festa, Lecce and the bottom of the heel!

 After our day wandering the Castle and the fantastic lunch, we decided on a quiet night.  Thursday, the next morning, we departed La Vedute and travelled to Altomura - V4 had seen some information about a medieval festival - apparently the Festa di Federico 

On arriving we drove around to find parking (not an easy feat!) and luckily snatched a spot quickly.  We headed uphill toward the old city centre, the laneways were cobbled with limestone - a beautiful sand coloured stone, made shiny with all the wear over the years.  The laneways were windy and every so often, there were flags festooned between the buildings - we wondered what we were in for.  

Rounding a corner suddenly, there were crowds, and loud music, and I mean really loud suspenseful music.  We had stumbled upon a troupe of pole dancers, jugglers and balancers, entertaining the audience.  Their ‘security’ were even dressed to suit and the props were of Viking ships, sails and masts.  It was an entertaining show.  Just as the show finished, there was procession - stilt walkers, drummers, and others I couldn’t quite recognise (perhaps historical figures).  

Wandering the laneways, we entered a small crossroad piazza and came across a battery of drummers performing amidst a host of medieval activities - women in dress performing washing and dying of wool, crafters, knights putting people in stocks; an extended family (including a 6 month old) in full medieval dress who played music and enticed the crowd to dance with them.  And then, there was the food!  Street stalls selling beers, focaccia; pizza; fried dough; vino….and all their stalls decorated in keeping with the theme - hessian canopies; wildflowers and leaves; wooden barrows.  It was absolutely fabulous!

We continued out southward journey to Lecce  and found our accommodation for the next few nights in a non-descript apartment block a few blocks from the Centro.  While the outside was ordinary,  the apartment was furnished with antiques in the most exquisite way.  Our hosts Vittorio and Monica were so welcoming and helpful.  

After leaving our bags, we walked to the Centro Storico and found ourselves in the Piazza del Oronzo where there is the remains of a Roman Amphitheatre right in the middle of the piazza.  We found a cafe and sat and had apertivo and tris and people watched before wandering to find dinner in another piazza, enjoying pizza boscaola and another with pumpkins - both beautiful!

This morning we woke late having had a great sleep. Monica had baked us a ‘welcome cake’ each. It is really a form pastry pie - short crust pastry with a lemon/custard filling called a Pasticciotto, a tradition of the area.  

We wandered into the Centro again, finding the Convent of Celestini.  It was right next to the Basillica di Santa Croce, which is a large very white baroque cathedral with the most ornate decorations of people, animals, flora and gargoyles!  

Having had enough of walking laneways, we decided to jump in the car and drive to the bottom of the heel of Italy to a town called Santa Maria del Leuca, or simply Leuca.  The drive down was interesting, we went from reasonable farm land to desolate stretches of what appeared to be abandoned land, dead ancient olive trees and weeds.  It all looked a little sad, until we got to the town, and then a beautiful white coastal port lay below us, next to the acquamarine water where the Adriatic meets the Mediterranean Sea!

We walked the promenade and found a restaurant for lunch that looked over the water.  We ate Fritto Misti and drank a cold glass of Chardonnay and marvelled at how fortunate we are!  

We drove a different route back to Lecce - taking secondary and tertiary roads to stick to the western coastline travelling through sleepy little coastal towns up to Gallipoli (the Italian one!).  There were lots and lots of holiday houses that looked shut but lots of people on the beaches late into the afternoon.  

A piazza in Altamura

Cattedrale di Altamura

The hessian canopy of a stall

The pine cone / acorn is a symbol of the Puglia area.  
It is said to offer good luck

Pasticiotto made by Monica for us

A battery of drummers entertaining the crowds

V4 at the entrance to Castello Carlo V Castle

Knights just hanging around at Altamura

V4 and I at Santa Croce Basillica

Trees at Altamura were pruned to cylinder shape
- they were hollow in the middle - a really artful gardener!

Me at Palazzo Monastico dei Celestini, Lecce

V4 - Santa Maria del Leuca

The Security - Altamura Feste

Nothing stops an Aussie girl from …
finishing her beer!

Who was more scared - the henchman or V2?

Laneways of Altamura

Where we were

 

Spinning in Altamura

Food, Travel and Flowers

We were drawn to the Spanish quarter of Naples, we indulged in Cuoppo Di Mare (a cup of lightly fried octopus, prawns, and sardines) for lunch.  V4 found a cheese shop….her little mouse nose wiggled and her eyes widened!  

V4 continued to clothes shop (as it has been much colder than we expected) and I took the Metro back to the hotel - walking through an amazing tunnel at the Toledo Metro station - quite the work of art. 

That night we dined on bread roles, salami and cheese in our room.  

The next morning we breakfasted on coffee and pastries before catching the airport bus to collect our hire car.  Well, it took nearly half a day to get the car - the company was unbelievably disorganised and we were amongst a dozen or so others trying to get a car.  The upsell on insurance was obvious, and the troops were revolting against it.  Luckily by the time we got to the front of the line, the service staff were as tired of us as we were of them and we just had to stay the line - no extra insurance!  They did try to haggle that the booking was not changed but a very firm no, and the production of a dated email put him in his place.  Some poor young British man who had booked with a debit card (not credit card) was forced to pay an extra E380 for the privilege - the gouging was terrible!.    

V4 and I were both looking forward to a Fiat Bambino, but no, we received a Toyota Yaris hybrid.  She is a good little pocket rocket once you get used to her.  

We finally left Naples and headed east , although we did not realise it was a public holiday… Liberation Day.  That meant many restaurants, trattorias etc were closed, so it was a Service Station lunch on the way.  It was not half bad - V4 had Arincina and I had focaccia…a little different to the four and twenty pies in Aus :-)

We walked to a lookout at the ocean - just south of Bisceglie, Rapalta to marvel at the limestone coastline. The sea was relatively calm and the water clear…the little beach had huge white stones that made the most amazing sound when the water trickled back from the wave.  Just a little hidden gem!  There were poppies on the side of the road, growing wild…a reminder of ANZAC Day at home, and a quiet moment of remembrance.  

Our accommodation is a farmstay Agriturismo La Vedute - a small farm with horses, olive trees, almond and cherry trees and …get this….20 motel style rooms…not quite the small farmstay we thought!  Although the rooms are basic, the breakfast was fabulous!  An exquisite continental breakfast - cake, pastries, fruit, nuts, salami, cheese, breads, juice….a real spread.  Up until now, the included breakfasts have been a packaged croissant and coffe - one place even wanted coins for the coffee machine, so this was a lovely change, and reminded me of what a continental breakfast used to look like when I travelled as a child.  

Dinner that night was in Bisceglie - where it seemed every man, woman and child was walking the promenade around the marina.  A beautiful harbour view, buzzing with life and still going strong when we headed back at 9.30ish.  

Friday 26th, after our beautiful breakfast, we headed to Castel del Monte - a castle on the hill built in the 13 C.  It was quite spectacular in size, one can only wonder at why it was built, as it was not a defensive castle with moat etc.  Descriptions had it having statues, artworks and huge water fountains internally - one could sit at the window and gaze out for kms.  

Lunch was in the town of Ruvo di Puglia, where V4 found a gem of an Italian Eatery.  We drove through the town, and without realising it ended up in the oldest part with the narrowest lanes and got stuck!  It was then that we understood the no traffic sign we should have taken notice of prior to entry, despite Google Maps Lady’s insistence to follow her!.  A wonderful young man offered to drive us out.  What we didn’t realise was that he had never driven an automatic, nor hybrid before…and we trusted him!  He managed to get us out and invited us to a street party the next night, however we will be on the road further south.   

We eventually enjoyed our lunch of anti pasta; Penne di Arabiatta; Fusilli with potato and zucchini; and a grilled meat tray.  We literally rolled out, feeling full but marvelling at how beautiful every single mouthful was!  We then walked the old section noticing how different things were to Naples - so much cleaner and cared for - scrubbed steps, flowers and well kept doors.  The lighter colour of the limestone helps make things look cleaner, but the light and the love were obvious!

Capuchino and Patrice’s for breakfast

V4 at the Cheese Shop!

The roof the Toledo Metro Station
Naples

Truli at Rapalta

Poppies on ANZAC day across the
other side of the world

The view at Rapalta

The trip from Naples to Bari

By the pool at La Vedute

Garden inspiration for Linga Longa…
Around the pool.

The surround of Castel del Monte
- wildflowers

It’s quite a walk up the mount to the castle
which they’ve tried to make interesting

On the walk to the Castle

More wild flowers

View from north from the Castle window

Napoli Breakfast

Napoli Spanish Quarter Lunch

Antipasto - Ruvo di Puglia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castel_del_Monte

Napoli

The fast train took us from Roma to Napoli in 1 hour and 13 minutes - 227 kms!   NSW Trains needs to do a study tour - it was smooth, it was on time and it was very clean and comfortable and it was just so seamless!

Our accommodation is only a few minutes from Napoli Centrale Stazione.  It’s clean and comfortable but not luxurious.  Ettore - our host was very welcoming and helpful - giving us the rundown on where to go and what to do.  

Street food for lunch in a back lane on the way to the Museum.

V4 was excited to find there was a museum of anatomy at a local university that held specimens - MUSA - Museo Universitario delle Scienze e delle Arti. Totally fascinating (and huge) anatomical collection of bones, preserved bodies, wax models, diseased organs and body parts, etc.  I, of course, was not as smitten as V4 who just wandered around glued!  It was a little confronting and gruesome at times - baby skeletons of conjoined twins were just one example.

We then wandered the laneways from the University, marvelling at the difference between Naples and Rome.  The tiny cobblestones lanes, barely a car width, wind up and down.  Front doors to accommodation are on the street level, washing hangs on portable clothes lines in the lane way, or on ropes from verandahs on the first, second, third floors.  This is high density living!

As we ambled through lanes, you could hear the buzz of the high traffic areas - not car noise but indistinguishable human voice noise that created a buzz and excitement to turn the next corner.  

We took the direction to the Spanish quarter and found ourselves amongst laneways of markets - everything from knock off Gucci bags, to fish mongers, to hardware stalls, mixed in with clothes, souvenirs and cafes.  

The water called us with its magnetism and allowed us to rest and have a limoncello spritz at the waters edge while we watched the local teens gather, chat at court each other - somethings never change despite changing locations.

We caught the Metro back to Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi where we are staying, and dined on a rooftop bar to watch the sunset.  

Info screen on the fast train….
speed exceeded 230 km/h at times!

Via dei Trubnali

Galleria Umberto 1

The Pulcinella Statue
- you rub his nose for good luck!

Umberto Shopping Centre…amazing!

Via Toledo San Giuseppe…what a vista.

Piazza del Plebiscito

Via San Paolo…reasonably wide and
uncluttered before we got in to the ‘thick’ of it.  

Limoncello Spritz by the water

The beginning of the lane way adventure!