Hotel A-14 Modugno

... shouldn't have taken the first agent's word for it. Seemed to be ships sailing at all hours - must surely have been one with space on it overnight? Definitely the only way to do this route.However, we get by: but I wouldn't recommend Ventourist line: cheap, for sure; but tacky -very, very tacky!Another night in an anonymous port.

... Loud and Incredibly Close
Jonathan Safran Foer
purchased and left behind in Florence
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On the opposite end of the spectrum of first person narratives written a non-objective voice, Oskar, the 9 year old hero of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a absolute riot. I guess the motif works better for heartfelt comedy than noir.

I picked this up in Paris after ...

... funny to watch. The other variation is to run up to a random person, touch them and say 'tag your it' and then just run off... the looks on the random people's faces is priceless!

Its amazing what you think of to kill time when your stuck on a boat!! But what european ferry isn't complete with out a room full of pokie machines! On the way to the bathroom i passed this room with a handfull of change i wanted to get rid of. Luckily the odds were in my ...

... a taxi that you haven't called. Jyles insisted though.
I checked the locks on the doors before I got in, and made sure I could escape. It was legitimate, but in a normal situation I would have said no.

We got to the ferry terminal just on time. Since it was an overnight ferry, we got bunk beds and had an awesome sleep.

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 ...

... to hire a car! We had decided to travel around the region rather than staying in one place, so we could really get a feel for what it was like. The further we drove from Bari and the Puglia border, the higher we rose, the wilder and more beautiful the scenery became. Basilicata is the most mountainous as well as the least known region of southern Italy. We found out before we came that tourism is not big in Basilicata, although Italians ...

Woke up at the Hostel early to a catch our train.

Took an hour long train to Napoli. In Napoli we had about 45 minutes till our next train, so we decided to get coffee. Apparently here, you go the the register (before you can look at anything) and order what you want. Then you take it to the counter and they give you what you ordered...crazy. Well after 3 attempts each at a ...

My friends and I stayed at this bed and breakfast in Mola just south of Bari. It was the best yet. Large old English style accomodations, we stayed in an apartment with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, large veranda overlooking the main street. It even had a full kitchen. The breakfast was the best we have experienced. It is worth the trip just for the accomodations. A nice beach area with breath taking views is just 10 minutes south in Polignano.

A must see for those off the tourist path.

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.

... the day wandering around the town - much nicer than we expected - and had lunch before buying our tickets for the ferry. Before heading back to get our stuff, we stopped at the town's main basilica, St Nicholas' - it took a second for us to make the connection, and then I looked it up in the guide book. This was indeed the same St Nicholas we though it was, and this church actually contained the tomb of the saint, whose remains were stolen from Turkey by ...