Until next time

Travel is hard … figuring out those things we take for granted in our daily lives. Different language, customs, behaviors. Learning to stay within the confines of a 20”x12”x8” suitcase. Walking everywhere dragging luggage or shopping bags, making mistakes, finding/missing trains, driving on strange roads, and the possibility of a strike -- all take their toll.

Some days I feel tired to the bone, drained. But just as filled with new sights, sounds, smells.  Then ready to get back into the suitcase and back into the tumult. But for now, narrowly missing the dreaded sciopero, I find my way back to the hotel, get up early and catch my flight home.

Arrivederci Roma

Can you love a place to death?   I return to Rome for my last day and find the streets crowded, filthy, trash cans overflowing. But she still has a proud beauty amid the clamour and crud, a way of getting to you as you turn a corner and smell a bit of jasmine on the breeze. Turn off any main street to find a quiet vicolo to stroll.  Outdoor cafès filled with laughing people beckon. With June practically here, you can feel the temperature and humidity rising and the crowds closing in. Good time to head home.

This is a country faced with almost insurmountable challenges but somehow with a boundless optimism flavored with a bit of cynicism.   But seeing how civilization after civilization grew, crashed, overcame obstacles and thrived, I don’t think would take a bet against these people finding a way back into the light.

Last day in Monopoli

Spent my last day wandering a bit in this seaside town … quiet in a way but also lively with local citizens gearing up for the summer season. There is a lot to recommend here between the fun outdoor spaces, good food (especially for you seafood fans), beautiful scenery. Visited the local castle of Carlos V, a Spanish king … one of her many conquerors. 

Off to Rome today for my last day on the ground before the long slog home.

Toes in the Adriatic

On the road today, we wanted to dip our toes in the sea so found a lovely spot near a tiny castle on the Marina di Ostuni coast. The water was warm and so inviting. A small family was setting up an umbrella to enjoy a swim and picnic lunch.  So quiet, soft sand and bright turquoise water.

The beaches are really beautiful all along this part of the region; lots of wide open spaces dotted occasionally with little castles and stone watchtowers reminding us of the near constant invasion of this besieged country.

How old???!!

We had a unique opportunity today to visit an olive oil masseria, a farm that tends and presses olive oil from trees over two thousand years old.  And we met “L’elefante”, a three thousand year old tree.  Much of this grove in the Masseria Brancati was planted by the Romans over two thousand years ago and is still producing oil today. The trees are massive, twisted trunks in impeccable rows nourished by the red soil of Ostuni.

We toured the groves then into the earth to see the original olive presses … first by the Messipians, the original citizens who arrived here from Greece in 900BC (around the same time as the Etruscans in Toscana), then by the Romans, and each successive civilization with their attendant technological improvements until the modern era.  We touched a three thousand and year old olive tree.  I still cannot wrap my mind around that.

Then on to La Città Bianca, the White City of Ostuni. Sitting high above the valley it is a winding maze of streets with a view of thousands of olive groves extending to the sea. A miracle of placement and beauty.  We sat sipping prosecco on a perfectly balmy evening watching the sunset and marveling at our good fortune.

On the sea

 Visiting Polignano a Mare yesterday, I was struck by many things. Arriving by train and walking to the historical center, you are often walking through a dreary town with people hanging around looking bored.  Or smoking, waiting for nothing.  It is very poor here and the lack of employment is evident except for the tourist areas.

We met a young shopgirl a few days ago who told us her story … born here in Bari and went to London for school and work.  For some reason she had to return and said it was the biggest mistake of her life.  That her goal is to get out of here.  It is a nice place to vacation, she told us but not a place to live.

Polignano a Mare is a tiny town set on cliffs above the sea, the erosion caused by waves cutting the earth from beneath homes and buildings. Very dramatic setting and beautiful with the bright turquoise water sparkling as far as you can see.

Road trip

Hit three new spots today: Locorotondo, Martina Franca and Alberobello. They are fairly close together, but on the road for quite a bit of the day. Locorotondo is a lovely, intimate city that is indeed round, sitting on a hill overlooking the Itria valley. It is white and so well cared for; you really feel a pride of place when walking through the tiny streets.

Then off to Martina Franca … not as charming, getting back to the Baroque style. Lunch on a piazza in a very quiet downtown.  This whole region really shuts up tight in the afternoon.

Then to see the trulli in Alberobello. They are funny little conical houses and the centro is just a neighborhood of hundreds of them.  It is hard to imagine regular people living regular lives in these odd structures.