Excelsior Bari

As it turns out, filling that day wasn't so much of a problem.... we tootled out of town, found a beach, wandered about & looked at the boats; tootled back, found somewhere to eat, had a chat with a few Brits and - hey presto! - before you knew it, time for bed! But the one on board was a bit more of a challenge... all 13 hours of it! BIG ...

... by the breakdown of my bike and the need to kill several days in Paris, which I'd been to on enough occasions in the past that I had no desire for sightseeing. But it's also just incredibly well written, with a keen eye for detail, stripped of glamour, pretension, and moralization. Most of all, these cops are 3 dimensional humans, fighting the good, sisyphean fight armed with their wits, the increasingly rare ...

So we get up, get ready, have the usual buffet breakfast that has ceased to be a wonder and a pig out fest. We loaded towards Pompeii and settled in for what we thought would be a 45min drive, try more like 20mins later! Suddenly we were at Pompeii, meeting Enzo again and getting wired for sound so we could hear him. It was pretty hot, but still early..and we went into Pompeii via the Gladiator training ground..past there we went to ...

... the coastal resorts in August - the idea of travelling somewhere quiet and undiscovered was very appealing.
We passed very few cars on the journey to Matera, which was actually rather refreshing having spent last summer trying to get away from the over-crowded tourist resorts.

As the road headed up to the mountains, we passed ancient hilltop towns and villages clinging to rocky limestone plateaus. Often seeming more Greek ...

... cafe, we couldn't get any service. We kept getting cut in line and the register people would help us. Apparently they don't like tourists here...so, no coffee.

Took a train from Napoli to Caserta. In caserta I finally got a coffee, and all it was was this tiny little shot glass with the most potent coffee I've ever had...pretty tasty though. We met some people here who ...

This is where Pietro, an old Italian guy, jumped into Bruce and navigated us to the trulli. He saved us from a traffic jam in the narrow streets of Puglia.

Pete was also called Pietro while in Italy. :-)

Trullo comes from the Greek word, "tholos" – meaning “dome”. See the pictures of the wee houses.

We found the Belvedere pub here too - also the name of our local in Aus – meaning “beautiful view”. It was beautiful.

... After lunch we went to meet the Director of Tourism of Puglia. Pretty cool!! Then last night for Sam's birthday we surprised her with a spa trip, and the hotel had a buffet party for her in the bar. Again, the food was fantastic. Lasagna!! (Dad would have died.. again.. ). and other really great dishes. I think i ate more yesterday than i ever have in my entire life. After dinner the hotel came out with a cake that said love mom, and sams' family. It was really sweet. Her ...

... and got treated to a spectacular view, we could see for miles, rolling mountains, harsh jagged peaks, roads twisting up them and slicing thru them, rashes of houses and big clustered towns, we could even see the sea. Saw some of the cuirassed pine trees - strange gnarly bark, growing right off the ridge of the mountain, defying the laws of physics. They apparently only left growing here in the Pollino national park and in one other country (can't remember which). We parked near a refuge (a ...

... too many travel blogs of people sitting for hours at the border, struggling to catch a minibus in a country that doesn't really have organized public transportation, etc. So, three ferries was the plan. I know we've been harping on our accommodations lately, but this entry it's necessary to warn other people about Montenegro Lines. Do not, I repeat do not, waste your money on a cabin with this ferry line. We "splurged" on a two-person cabin since we were taking two ...

This town wasn't in any of my travel guides but it was a great place. Cheap and delicious food, very helpful travel agents, and an old quarter to die for. There were lots of old churches, some of which were turned into apartment buildings. This town gave me a real taste of Italy...and on my last day too! Check out the sunset and the alleys!