It’s coming up on a full year since our Apulian Adventure so I thought I’d better complete the record by posting the final installment. Last year I did two posts about the trip celebrating CJ and David’s 50th birthdays. Here’s a link to the second one…
but left off just prior to our tour of Alberobello, a fantastic town with very few full time residents due to the impracticalities of living in trulli. They had lots of pros back in the day but are now challenging to manage (moisture, air quality, HVAC issues mostly) and not terribly comfortable I would guess! We were able to peek inside several of them during our tour with Angelo.
Several trulli are often connected together to accommodate a larger family because one trullo could only maintain structural integrity with a small footprint. Today it is common to see larger multi-coned trulli but the licensed builders are under strict regulation to use only traditional building and repair techniques.
Then, off to lunch in an extraordinary restaurant in Ostuni with just enough time to meander in search of the best vistas and charming vignettes. Strangely, an elderly woman calling all the neighborhood cats to be fed is a memory that sticks with me from a year ago. She poured food for them onto the steps and they came running!
Moving on to Monopoli and our final hotel stay…
The sea-side town was perfect for walking, with lots of narrow, winding streets and little traffic.
We enjoyed the hotel rooftop in spite of the chilly evening. Here I demonstrate the art of wearing ALL the layers at once when cold weather strikes while you’re traveling light. Italians would not approve of my sartorial hack but luckily we were the only ones determined to relax on the rooftop.
Bari: Fish Market, Orecchiette Ladies
Sophie and co. lead us around Bari, her father’s hometown, with a stop for pizza, a glimpse into her childhood days in Bari and some inspiration for her book, which you should buy.
From the guide…Low Arch Street (Via dell’Arco Basso). There is a tunnel with a low arch that opens up to a hidden place among the twisting lanes of Old Bari (Bari Vecchia). The attractions of the street are the women skillfully creating “Ears” (orecchiette) pasta in front of their homes
We enjoyed the street markets of Bari and especially Old Town, where we got a little taste of daily life and watched the master pasta makers at work.
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