Sweltering Hot Day in Apulia

June 12

We cracked a 100 degrees today. Not in a million years would I have expected it to be this hot so early in June. I admit, though, the heat is still better than the rainy, cold weather we had last year in Portugal and Spain.

After checking into our flat in Trani, we headed to Castel del Monte for a visit. After that we went back to Trani.

We had a slow start to our day as Giovanna (Alberobello host) was coming at 9am to check us out. Since we had such a great internet connect, I decided to take time after breakfast to FINISH the project I had been working on intermittently through our trip. It took less than an hour and now it is done, at least what I need to do while we’re in Italy.

Hard at work in our garden

We loved our Trulli house but both agree that we wouldn’t want to stay much longer than one night. Any longer and one of use would either get a concussion or need stitches from hitting our head on the stone archways or would break our neck (or other body part) from falling down the stairs.

Once on the road we headed for Bari. The only thing Peter really wanted to see there was a WWII cemetery outside of town and the Basilica of San Nicola. First up was the cemetery which was locked but we were able to grab a pic or two from outside the gates.

WWII Cemetery Bari

Then, according to Gracie, we were only 20 minutes away from the Basilica. Not sure what happened to her today but she was acting quite schizophrenic. She would tell me to turn left then change her mind and tell me to go right; except of course I had already made the left turn. That happened so many times that Peter finally shut her off and we simply followed signs. After about 45 minutes (to go less than 6 km) we finally reached the port where we miraculously found parking. We only put enough money in the meter for one hour as the Basilica was quite close.

The Basilica of Saint Nicholas is actually two churches in one. The main floor is Catholic and the lower floor is Greek Orthodox. It was built between 1081 and 1197. It was built to house relics of St. Nicholas who had chosen Bari as his burial site. The Basilica was quite crowded with not only tourists, but there was a service going on in the Greek Orthodox part and a wedding was just about to start in the Catholic portion. We saw the bride pulling up in a Rolls Royce just as we were leaving.

The main altar in the Catholic part of Basilica of St. Nicola
Main altar in Greek Orthodox portion of the Basilica
Box contains relics of St. Nicholas

After stopping for a snack on our way back to the car, we headed for Trani where we are spending the night. For some reason our host wanted us to check in at 2pm instead of the usual 4-5pm so we had to cut our day in half to accommodate her. Of course when we got there the flat wasn’t ready but she showed us around and gave us all the pertinent info before we headed back out.

We drove about 40 minutes to the Castel del Monte which is a 13th century citadel and castle. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is in magnificent condition. The castle is engraved on the Italian version of the one cent Euro coin. Of course that coin is so tiny it’s hard to see, but it’s there.

We scored another free entry with our handicap placard so we’re up to about $80 in savings. That will just about pay for all the gelato we’ve eaten while we’re here.

Castle Del Monte; these four towers are repeated on the back side so there’s a total of 8 columns.
Main entrance
Columns were beautiful
Inside the Castle

After the Castle we drove back to Trani to settle into our flat. We have no food so we’re going to walk out a little later to grab some groceries. Unlike other trips, though, we can only buy what we can eat before we leave. It’s too hot in the car to carry food from one city to the next. Yesterday I threw away some cheese I found in our grocery bag which had been in the back of the car for at least 3 days….eww.

Tomorrow we’re heading to a beach resort in Martinsicuro where we’ll stay for 3 nights. We’re starting to reach the saturation point for churches, castles and other old things so we thought we’d hang out at the beach for a few days. It’s about 3 1/2 hours from here and it’s supposed to be beautiful. We may “go quiet” for a few days but I’ll post if anything exciting happens.

The Coolest Place Ever

June 11

Happy Birthday Mom! We miss you!

Went to the beach right about where the box is to the east of Ostuni

Today has been a wonderful day. We left Lecci heading to Alberobello via the beach. We didn’t have any specific beach in mind, just ones we found in google. We struck out a couple of times but on our 3rd try we hit pay dirt. Well, actually it was a very nice beach that had sand, not rocks. I even waded in the water up to my mid-calves. While cold, it was warmer than the water in the Hilton pool. I think I could have actually gotten used to it enough to swim but I didn’t have my suit on and there wasn’t anyplace to change. Besides, then I’m all sandy which I hate.

Look at me swimming in the Adriatic; the water is almost up to my knees
Very nice beach; we had a snack at the restaurant in the background before we left

We spent about an hour at the beach before getting back on the road and heading for Alberobello. The unique feature of this town is the Trullo Village, a large collection of stone houses with conical roofs. Symbols meaningful to the owner are often painted on the roofs. It is a much bigger tourist destination than I realized. There were people following flags all over the place.

Most people no longer live in trullo. The part of town we visited are for the tourists with tons of shops and restaurants. Then there is another section of homes across town that are used mainly as rentals.

Here are several pictures of the tourist part of the village.

Trulli church

It’s crazy hot again (had not idea it would be this hot this early in the summer; technically it’s still spring) so we had a lighter lunch of panini in an outdoor café. We were under an umbrella so it wasn’t too bad.

Then we headed to the trulli house where we are spending the night. It’s on the other side of town from the tourist village and is wonderful. It has all the character of a 100 year old trulli but is nicely renovated. Our host, Giovanna, is wonderful and left us all kinds of goodies. Hopefully, Peter won’t either hit his head on the low arched doorways or break his neck on the stairs when he gets up to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Barring those catastrophes, it is a very cool place to spend the night.

Here are a few pictures and a video Peter took.

Outside our trulli house
There’s a little garden area; maybe it will be cool enough later to have dinner out there.
Notice the welcome sign in upper left corner; very nice touch.
Queen size bed; it’s a tight fit but it should be fine.

Here’s the link to the Airbnb listing which has more pictures. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/20097875?source_impression_id=p3_1560263122_bgHB3A1GNh7KBYdt

And here’s the link to the video Peter took that we posted on YouTube.https://youtu.be/HGUtDCriBEU

It’s still early, just 4:45pm now but we’ve been settled for a couple of hours. And this is where we plan to stay for the evening. It will be nice to have a home-cooked dinner for a change. Unlike other adventures, we’ve been staying in more hotels than flats and I’m getting tired of eating out. As much as I love pasta and pizza, too much of a good thing is, well….too much.

Talk soon.

Lecce – Florence of the South

June 10

Evidence of Lecce can be found as early as the Trojan War (12th or 13th century BC) but then it was called Sybar. Lecce has been occupied continuously (but with different names) ever since. Now it is considered Florence of the South because of the amazing architecture.

Original city wall with bastion of St. Francis in the background.

Today was slightly cooler (only upper 80s) than yesterday and it was pretty windy so there was a nice breeze, especially in the shade. It was still hot, though, so we decided to have an easier day (only 16,400 steps; about 7 miles). We started with the Charles V Castle built in the middle of the 16th century. The ground level was free and since we just saw a big castle yesterday, choose not to pay to see the interior.

Castle Charles V; One of the outside walls
Interior courtyard.

After strolling through a market, where Peter got a beach towel, we headed to the Basilica of Santa Croce. Once we finally found it, we discovered that we had to buy tickets at the Piazza Duomo, about a 15 minute walk back in the direction we came from. But we made good use of our time and found a few other cool places, including the Roman Amphitheater which was built in the 2nd century. Over the centuries other monuments were built above it so only part of it has been excavated.

Roman Amphitheater
One of the original city gates is to the left of the amphitheater.

We also stopped at a couple of churches (of course we did) between the amphitheater and the Duomo. The first was the Chiesa Del Gesu, a small but beautiful church. It contained the relics from St. Bernadino, the patron saint of Lecce.

Chiesa Del Gesu
Main altar
Relics of St. Bernardo (behind effigy)

The last stop before the Duomo was the Chiesa di Sant’Irene. This church is considered the historic center of Lecce and was built beginning in 1592. This one was built in the Baroque style and is, therefore, much more ornate. The carvings on the columns were amazing.

St. Irene’s Church
Main altar is not too ornate.
Just one of the many side altars; one was more ornate than the other. What looks like dark grey on the columns is actually intricate carvings.

We finally made it to the Duomo, which we had seen last night when we went to dinner. The Cathedral was built in 1144 but was rebuilt in 1659. The remains under the main altar are those of Saint Orontius of Lecce, yet another patron saint of the city.

Duomo
Main Altar
We also visited the crypt beneath the main altar

In addition to the church, our ticket allowed us to visit the church museum. There were some nice paintings, silver pieces and statues. It was very reminiscent of the museum at the Abbey of Monte Cassino but not as large.

One of the rooms in the Duomo museum
Duomo courtyard

Once we were done here, we headed back to the Basilica of Santa Croce which was built over 300 years from 1353 to 1695. Once again in the Baroque style, it’s richly decorated. We didn’t get to see the outside as it’s undergoing renovations. To tell the truth, the Basilica, the Duomo and St. Irene’s had very similar looking interiors with the carved columns and ornate decorations.

Santa Croce Main Altar
Can really see the ornate carvings in this picture.
One of the less ornate side altars

Once we finished at the Basilica, we stopped for a light lunch then decided that 4 churches, 1 castle and an amphitheater was plenty for one day. We were hot, tired and wanted to get back to the hotel and the pool. It took about 45 minutes to walk home because we stopped several times to look at a few things on the way, including the Naples Gate, which at one time, was the main gate of the city. It was erected in 1548 in anticipation of a state visit from Charles V. It was beautiful.

Naples Gate
Column was at the other end of the park from the Naples Gate. Not sure what it is but it was pretty.

Then it was home for a swim (for Peter) and laundry (for me). The laundry is on the same floor as the pool so it was easy to keep up with the clothes while hanging out under an umbrella on the pool deck. Of course, in Europe laundry is never easy so it took almost 3 1/2 hours to do 2 loads, but now everything we have is clean; at least for now.

Tomorrow we’re off to Alberobello where we are staying in a Trulli house; we can’t wait.

La città sotterranea (The Underground City)

June 8

2nd longest driving day of our trip

We skipped breakfast this morning to catch an early ferry. This one was more direct, only 20 minutes across the strait so we were back on the mainland and on our way to Matera by 7:45.

This was parked just in front of us on the ferry; must be race weekend.

It was a beautiful car ride, following the sea to the west then to the east. Of course, to get from one side to the other we had to go through some mountains. Unfortunately, when we got to that part it was Peter’s turn to drive. He hadn’t driven in 10 days, but he did a great job through the steep road full of twists and turns. I took over again to get us into the city and amazingly enough we found parking right around the corner from our flat.

Since we had skipped breakfast, we were starving so the first thing we did when we arrived was eat lunch. There was a nice restaurant about 10 feet from where we parked. Even though it’s blazing hot today (into the 90s) we ate outside in the shade. There was no air conditioning inside the restaurant, so it was even hotter than outside. We both had delicious pasta. I took a picture of the menu so I can remember the names and, hopefully, find a recipe that I can make when we get home. These were just as good as the Pasta alla Norma we had in Sicily. One of the things we love about our travel adventures is trying new foods and luckily, we get more hits than misses.

Shady spot for lunch.

We couldn’t check in until 4pm and it was not even 2:00 when we finished lunch, so we decided to explore the city. The area of Matera has been inhabited continuously since the 10th millennium BC (Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age). Those residents lived in underground caves, some of which still exist and are available to tour. More on that later.

Part of the excavation of the subterrean city

The old city is beautiful, filled with ancient buildings and narrow alleyways. The cobblestones are rough on the ankles, though, so we both had to be super careful.

Part of the old city; Duomo is in the background.
City from the Piazza Duomo

The Matera Cathedral (Duomo) is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Eustice. It was built in the Romanesque style in the 13th century.

Duomo
Original Fresco
Main Altar
Back of Duomo

Another beautiful church was the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. This is even older than the Duomo as it was built in the 11th century. One cool feature of this church is that it was built over the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. There is a trap door in one of the side chapels that accesses that ancient church.

Chiesi di S’Francisco of Assisi
Main altar
If you look closely at the floor of the altar you can see the outline of the trap door. How fun would it be to check that out.

My favorite, though, was Chiesa San Giovanni Battista. It was much more simple but very beautiful. The construction on this one started in 1230.

Chiesa San Giovanni Battista
Main altar
Gorgeous Pieta; the expression on Mary’s face is amazing.

We headed back for home about 3:30 as we needed to cool off a bit. The flat is very nice and most importantly, the fridge had a bottle of cold water. I actually used the glass bottle as an ice pack for my ankle which had swollen a little due to the heat. The house is built almost in a cave style with the high rounded ceiling; it’s quite lovely.

Talking with our host from our kitchen/living room combo; bedroom is in the back. It has a king bed and two twins.
Painting in bedroom; looks like a fresco.
Can clearly see the domed ceiling; there a small reading nook up there but we’re not planning to explore that; we’ve already climbed enough stairs today.

After hanging around the house for a couple of hours, we headed back out to check out one of the cave houses. It was quite a walk downhill. While downhill is good, it just means that eventually we’ll have to walk back uphill to get home.

There are several homes to visit. We choose the Case Grotto for no reason other than it was the closest to the house. It was very well done with life size figures. Here are a couple of pictures and I also uploaded a video.

They lived with the farm animals
Notice the location of the toilet

Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/hEc-9VXLXI4

Across the street from the house was a shop displaying the work of a local artist who created an entire village from the stone. It was incredible.

The artist created an amazing village; it was beautiful.

On our way home with our freshly made panini sandwiches, we saw some street entertainers in the main square. It was a lot of fun. https://youtu.be/mtJcgowOe-A

Well, that’s it for tonight. Tomorrow we’re off to Lecce. See you there.