We spent a great week in our trulli, not only relaxing by the pool, swimming and having a few drinks, but also a bit of sightseeing. We went to Bari one day to specifically buy some pasta! We had seen on TV the “Bari ladies” making their orecchiette pasta (“little pigs ears” popular throughout Puglia). They sit in a tiny alley, make their pasta and sell it, mainly to tourists like us, so when in Bari…..one needs to do it. It cost us 3 euros, 1 euro per person and Greg cooked up a storm that night with a great pasta dish.

We did like Bari and spent some time wandering the narrow streets of the old town in the port city. The port area was an interesting experience with the fishermen selling their catch of the day with a beer in one hand and the other hand slapping octopus on the rocks to tenderise it. The Teatro Margherita was rather a new building, only built in 1912 but it was rather impressive compared to the Bari Cathedral built between the late 12th and 13th Century. We did enjoy our time there.

The next stop was Polignano a Mare known as “the Jewel of Puglia” and one of the most picturesque coastal towns in Italy, if not the whole of Europe. We tend to agree, it was stunning. It is a small town perched on top of limestone cliffs that drop (from a huge height) into the Adriatic Sea.

The old town was beautiful and although the “Lama Monachile Beach” had heaps of people, it was still pretty stunning. The town is famous for its cliff diving and many brave souls were participating but not us, we decided to have lunch instead.

Our trulli was about 3.5 kms from the hilltop village of Cisternino which had more beautiful tiny alleyways to wander through.

The town is famous for its “barbequing butchers “so of course we had to try some. We chose our meat, bombettes, some filled with mushrooms, some with gorgonzola cheese, some chicken, and some traditional ones wrapped in prosciutto. The butcher cooks them for you while you find a table, order some vino, and then you wait with anticipation. We were not disappointed.

As we were in town on a Friday, it had to be pizza night. It was a good opportunity to wander the streets at night. Of course, we had to have an aperitivo before dinner.

We also visited the “over touristy” but ever so pretty town of Alberobello. It is a UNESCO listed site for its unusual district of trulli. A trulli is a dwelling built of limestone with drystone walls and a conical roof. Unfortunately for us, the day we visited was the same day Dolce and Gabbana were setting up for one of their 600 special guest invite only fashion shows. We believe our tickets got lost in the mail! Sorry about the number of photos but one could not help oneself. It is an amazing spectacle.

We left Alberobello after we decided we couldn’t take any more photos and headed to another lovely little white hilltop village close to us called Locorontondo, often called Puglia’s prettiest town and we agree. It was very quiet when we were there, and we just loved wandering the lanes virtually alone.

After all the walking round the streets, we needed to hydrate and eat so chose a rather cute little spot for lunch.

We had one last white hilltop village to explore, and that was Ostuni, known as “The White City”. Apparently back in the 17th century the town painted its walls (inside and out of all the buildings) with a white paint mixed with disinfectant to fend off the spread of a plague. No plaque today though , its still painted white for marketing reasons as it does look rather pretty.

To our shock horror when we arrived, we discovered that bloody Dolce and Gabbana were in Ostuni and setting up their next fashion show. Of course, that meant that a lot of streets were closed so it became rather difficult to find a car park. Poor Tony got driven up a VERY narrow street with steps on each side. Still can’t believe he made it with mirrors and wheels intact! JUST!!!!!!

By the way our tickets to the fashion shows still haven’t arrived!! Must be lost in the mail.

So that was our week in Trulli country and we had a”trulli” great time.

So it’s that time again, time for a drink and explore Urbino

Ciao for now

Love Greg and Rhonda