Relais & Le Jardin Logis D' Italia Castellana Grotte

... 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.

... about his personal reading experience and embed that into his reviews, rather than dismissing it as distractions.

Here the rub: this is the one book Hornby book I actively disliked (although did find A Long Way Down and Slam disappointing). But I reckon it was the overly self-consciously meta recurrent gag about the eponymous fictional periodical that soured me on the book and that the innovative ...

... thinking they may give us a glass or two, but how wrong could we be... they instead asked us how much we wanted... we through the esky onto the bar and said can you fill this!! They just smiled and said 'of course'.... things are starting to look up in the hunt for ice in europe!!

Once in port we boarded the bus again and maid our way to Athens to meet up with extra people who will be joining us on our cruise through the greek islands!

Until Athens...

... 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.

... It was edible, if not a bit onthe lukewarm side. We scoffed down food with Calvin and chatted. After dinner we went back to "our seats" and gathered a group to play Phase 10, including Calvin. The game was good fun, other people were playing Guess Who and Barbie Uno. we wrapped it up midnight ish..and headed to bed. Cory came first, Calvin last..ah well.. the luck of the game. No alarm and giving breakfast a miss tomorrow..sleep in!

... 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 ...

... 15 hour boat ride.

We boarded the ferry and set off. Of course on our grocery run we bought some beer and wine, so we began the drinking on the top deck. After a while we had quite the crew: the Australian couple, the 3 Spokane guys, and then 4 Irish lads. We stayed up late drinking and talking under the stars...it was pretty cool.

Then we went to bed. On this ferry ...

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.

... toasted sandwiches are good. The red and white bunting that covered the old town was not as I had first hoped an expression of solidarity with the plight of Southampton Football Club, but referred rather to the fact that AS Bari had just clinched promotion to Serie A.    That evening we boarded the ferry and from the aft deck watched the sun set over western europe that we won't see again for a year.