Puglia - A Quirky Paradise

 Please God Make It Stop

We struck off for Puglia negotiating the same terrifying road used for our ascent. Yes, it was still raining.  Intermittently, but determinedly three and a half hours later we turned into our next VRBO in Cisternino. Finally! Our lodging was located in a charming little village of Trulli houses (more in a minute) and the Guest house sat perched on a hill.  From our patio we looked out over the Valley of Itria which was blanketed in red poppies and yellow and purple wildflowers.  Our host Giovani was wonderful and life was good.  Except for laundry.

Menacing skys greeted us at our Cisternino accommodations.

  Those of you who follow the blog know that we seem to have challenges with laundry. Incomprehensible European washing machines.  Incomprehensible laundromats.  Laundry left behind... it goes on.  Well, here is the Italian thing,  They all seem to suffer from a pathological avoidance of clothes dryers.  It is not that they can't afford them.  It is not that they don't have room for them.  Frankly, I don't know what the problem is but it is certainly annoying when you have been traveling for weeks in somewhat unremitting rain.  Finally, in Syracuse, we capitulated and did the wash and then shared the living room with a cumbersome drying rack for days as our clothes dried at a glacial pace.

Trulli Houses are Truly Cool (Couldn't help it)

On our first day in Puglia it was, of course, still raining but we headed directly to Alberobello - the epicenter of Trulli architecture.  Trulli (singular Trullo) are corbeled limestone structures with a  unique appearance as you'll see in Michael's photos. Trulli have been present in Southern Puglia since the 1400's and 1,500 of them still exist and are lived in in Alberobello today.  Beyond this they are scattered throughout the countryside as was true in our village. 

They are constructed with double walls with rubble placed between the walls.  That is true of the roof as well and the "topper" on the roof provides a water seal.  These houses are constructed entirely without mortar which is pretty impressive.  Michael and I saw similar structures in the Dordogne in France last year but never in such numbers.  The trulli served as shelters and storehouses in the fields or as dwellings for small landowners.  Michael's photos show the trullo of a major landowner which consisted of numerous rooms.  This landowner had complete control over the small farmers who worked the land and could, with any or no justification, move in and destroy their trullo and force them to move on.  Today, most of the trulli in Alberobello have been :"modernized" while retaining their architectural integrity.We found the town so interesting we returned the following morning to investigate a different part of the village which encompasses 11 hectares.

This very simple Trullo house was next to the parking lot.

Much more elaborate trulli were seen throughout Alberobello.

This roof had sprouted an accumulation of lichen.

The doorways of each Trullo...

took on their own distinctive look,...

despite, or because of the sameness of the trulli.

Another Italian hill town that required walking up or down.

Colorful flowers lined the outside of this Trullo.

Following the ancient custom, some of the Trulli had symbols painted on the conical shaped roofs.

On the way back from our first visit to Alberobello we spotted this field of poppies...

which we saw an abundance of during our Italian trip, but never so many together as here.

On our second visit to Alberobello we saw the Parrochia Santuario Basilica S.S. Cosma E Damiano (Saints Cosma and Damian are the patron saints of Alberobello).

This is the outside of Trullo Sovrano (Sovereign), because it is the only two story Trullo.

It was originally built in the first half of the 18th century by the wealthy family of a priest.

The Trullo has served as a court, chapel, grocer's shop, monastery, oratory and finally a private dwelling.

In the early 1800s it was home to the relics of Cosmo & Damian, the patron saints of Alberobello.

The steep stairs leading up to the second story.

This Trullo owner obviously enjoyed potted gardening and sharing the garden with passersby.

As we were leaving the rain came once more and we headed for the shelter of the sculpted trees.

Trullis galore!

We moved on from Alberobello to Ostuni--the "White City.  An absolutely beautiful town perched atop a significant hill-- it was once more time to get our billy goat on and ascend.  We try to get out early in the morning to avoid the worst of the tour group crowd and we had a peaceful hour or so sipping cappuccino  and watching a funeral at an adjacent church.  People, even in Italy, don't dress for funerals anymore.  Shocking. And then they came.  Tour group after tour group with small flags flying in the breeze.  Just a word here.  It was "shoulder season (May) and we were in a "forgotten corner" of Italy and still the tourist quotient was astounding.  So, if you are traveling this summer brace yourselves.

Beyond being just flat out beautiful, Ostuni is known for its ceramics.  We window shopped and actually caved and bought a small piece unique to Ostuni.  By that time the tourists were circling like sharks and we realized it was time to retreat.  We visited Martina Franca briefly and Brindesi where we had a very nice lunch but not much to report on either of them in terms of unique sites or memorable experiences.

Ostuni seemed to have a surfeit of churches, from Santa Maria del Monte Carmelo...

 

to San Francesco d'Assisi (where we witnessed a funeral in process)...

to the magnificent Santa Maria Assunto.

The ornately carved stone rose window...

and the equally ornate painted ceilings

were a marvel to behold.

This shows how Ostuni got its name as the White City.

However, Lecce, our next stop, was filled with unique sites.  This is a beautiful town (maybe a city) featuring fantastic Baroque architecture.  Your head just swivels as you walk through the narrow, winding streets.  Michael's photos of the Cathedral will reveal the level of ornamentation and detail that is found throughout the town.  After the Cathedral, our next stop was the Jewish Museum.  It was interesting in many ways.  First, there are no Jews in Lecce.  A non-Jewish family felt it was important to highlight the role the Jews had played in the town prior to their expulsion in 1492.  Many headed to Greece and others to Northern Italy which was not subject to the excesses of that period. 

The baroque Basilica Santa Croce was completed in 1695.

It's rose window was even more ornate...

and the detailed stone carvings on the exterior showed the craftsmanship of the stone carvers.

The wooden caisson ceiling with the inset painting was spectacular. The construction on the basilica started after the Jews had been expelled in 1510.

 No Jews returned to Lecce until the end of WWII when a large resettlement camp was located outside the town.  Apparently the townspeople readily adopted the refugees supplying them with food, clothes and medical care.  Whether it was guilt over being part of the Axis powers, guilt over the expulsion or just human kindness is hard to tell.  Anyway, they all left for Israel and once again no Jews lived in Lecce.  We met a Dutch woman there who was saying that the Netherlands is grappling with how to come to peace with their attitudes toward the displaced persons who ended up in Holland after the war.  Apparently their experiences were less welcoming.  She said that when they were finally released from the camps the refugees were fined for past taxes.  Hmmmm.

Onward to the Museo Faggiano. This is a pretty fun story.  A family was suffering from a recurrent plumbing problem involving sewage.  The owner proceeded to rip up the floor to access the pipes.  When he did he discovered layers of archeological finds dating back 2,000 years.  Layer by layer the father and his sons continued to excavate and discover not just the history of the house but of the town.  Michael's photos will display what we saw and provide some context.  You entered on the street level but soon realize that 2,000 years ago that floor was on the second level and the basement was on street level.  They just kept building on top of previous buildings.  A brief, but excellent, guide led you through the four levels of the building.  I think this was the best museum we saw on the whole trip.

Some of the detailed tile work uncovered during the excavation.

This is a photo looking up to the floor from the bottom. Deirdre declined to take the winding stairs down, being content to wait for the photo.

Peering through the break in the stones reveals a whole other room.

Looking down to one of the cisterns.

In an upper room were artifacts uncovered during the excavation.

While more modern, the detailed needle work on these chair cushions caught our attention.

This old wooden bicycle was outside the museum.

The Cave of the Poets

About a half hour south of Lecce resides the Cave of the Poets.  I was not prepared for what an amazing place this was. Ha, Amalfi Coast! Take this!  There is a peninsula sticking out into azure blue waters with cliffs falling off on all sides. As you walk to the point you pass a series of caves and, honestly, I was thinking it was pretty pedestrian cave-wise until we got almost to the point.  There below us was a Grotto with water rushing in from a gap in the rocks with each wave.  Young people (as opposed to us) had descended a treacherous  staircase, then climbed up a boulder, and then threw themselves into the water. 

 

The column of Madonna of Roca Vecchia was on the grounds of the Cave of the Poets.

Beneath the column was the Madonna who appeared in the cave of the Basilian monks.

The water in several karst caves attracts swimmers to this area. Note the steps on the upper right leading down.

You can view the sea in the background, with the water flowing under the rock above. One person took the shortcut jumping from the rock on the left, rather than taking the stairs.

As you can see the water was crystal clear.

The Torre dell'Orso was a defensive structure and watchtower from medieval times. The beach on the far side of the tower is one of the most popular on the east coast of Italy.

We'll leave you with this view of the Adriatic and the cliffs, as we head on to our next adventure near Bologna.

 

. A Slice of Sicily

A Slice of Sicily

Well, it's several weeks since the last blog was written and I will just say that it continued to rain through Calabria, thru Sicily, back thru Calabria and into Puglia. Rain. Not as bad as up north in Bologna, where epic flooding had friends and relatives inquiring about our location & health. "Fine but soggy", we replied. But enough moaning (for now).

We escaped the Amalfi Coast after one more mercifully short coastal drive and headed for Catanzaro --- our mid-point stop headed to Sicily. Michael & I tend to be somewhat contrarian vis a vis preferred locations. Most people prefer Tuscany. We prefer Umbria. Most people adore Sicily. We prefer Calabria. And forget the Amalfi Coast -- we love Puglia. 

In Catanzaro we stayed at a country house that started out as a Spanish watch tower. This area has been conquered (as has Sicily) a zillion times. Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Normans, Spanish & French (briefly). There may have been more but my attention lapsed. So, Carmen, our host, had inherited the house that her great, great grandfather crafted out of the Spanish tower, and it is beautiful. It sits high on a hill overlooking the sea. Marvelous. We went into town for dinner after a walk along the promenade soaking up local color.

While strolling the promenade before dinner in Catanzaro, we saw this colorful seawall.

We had this great view of Catanzaro, the sea and the mountains from the Spanish tower.

Dinner was a bit of an introduction to Italian adult/child interaction. We had seated ourselves and were enjoying a glass of wine when the silence was shattered by five young boys (8 - 10) running shrieking back & forth through the restaurant over and over. They were ultimately joined by another dozen hooligans (a favorite word of my Moms) who also indulged in the screaming, running melee. Eventually they sat, but the noise level continued to escalate. At one point the ringleader stood on his chair shouting "Mama Mia!" --- really! The 3 adults accompanying them seemed to find nothing at all wrong with their behavior. Civilization is doomed.

The next day (still raining) we arrived in Sicily after completing the world's shortest ferry ride across the Strait of Sicily. A bridge would be a good idea. Before we reached the ferry we negotiated over 100 tunnels from Catanzaro to the ferry.  We averaged over 25 tunnels per hour. People always think that Switzerland is the world leader in tunnels but the Italians are crazy for tunnels.  Not just in the South either.  The Lakes region also boasts dozens of tunnels. We had a place in Siracusa (Syracuse). At week's end I suggested to the property manager that he recommend the owners spend several nights in the rental and see how THEY like it. I won't bore you with the details.

I also won't go into every trip we took in Sicily. I will say that we most enjoyed the small towns like Noto & Ragusa Ibla, which afforded charming strolls, good food and local color. In Noto we lunched at a great restaurant and noticed teenagers charging up & down the hill carrying pails of water. After lunch we strolled down to investigate what all of the activity was about. They were using flower petals to create intricate "paintings". On our walk back up we stopped in at the restaurant to inquire about the "paintings". They have a five day festival each May and decorate the streets. We told them about our same ritual for Day of the Dead and they replied, "No one dies at our festival." Something got lost in translation.

Noto, like a lot of hill towns, had steep stairs leading from one section of the town to another.

The ceramic pine cone is seen throughout Sicily representing good luck and prosperity.

The ceramic heads as flower pots were also quite a common site in Sicily.

Deirdre, in a whimsical moment, waiting for our lunch.

This cat was around our table during lunch, and having secured a treat, was ready to curl up for an afternoon siesta.

Here was one of the uncompleted street artworks...

and the many young people working to complete them for the festival.

I ducked inside this church in Noto and captured this interesting interior.

Steeples with bell towers were a common sight in all of the hill towns.

, 

On to Ragusa Ibla, with this small river flowing past the town.

The Cathedral of San Giorgio, at one end of the Piazza Duomo, is a dominant feature of the piazza.

A closeup reveals the detail on the statues on the Cathedral.

Ragusa Ibla is a Unesco World Heritage Baroque site in the Val di Noto of Sicily.

This cart maker is famous for his brightly painted, detailed carts.

Wandering through the town required navigating many staircases.

This picture shows why they need all those staircases.

This colorfully tiled roof on one of the many churches could use a trim...

as could this church with the vegetation growing on the balcony and the tower.

There was a garden where I spotted this beautiful yellow rose.

This photo will give you an idea of the elevation of the town. The hill towns were very defensible from invaders, and make for a lot of exercise for tourists.

This colorful three story house was designed to fit neatly between the intersection of two streets.

This whimsical mural caught my eye as we were leaving the town.

The first day we went to Ortigia Island (linked by a bridge to Siracusa) the wind was fierce and it was raining (off & on). Michael's photos will give you an idea. We decided against the boat cruise to the sea caves, although I am sure it would have been exciting. Ortigia was so interesting we went back on the one semi-nice day we had. We did take the boat cruise that day and it was terrific. The skipper showed admirable seamanship in maneuvering the boat into and out of several sea caves with no lost limbs or damage to the boat.

This will give you an idea of the ferocity of the wind and waves on our first visit to Ortigia Island, just off 

 Siracusa.

A house had several tiles embedded in the brick, but this one was the most unusual.

A view of the seawall, one of the many churches and buildings on Ortigia.

When we got back to where we were staying, I took these pictures of Ognina Cove and the terrific wave action there.

You can see how sea caves like this are formed by this intense wave action.

One final picture of the intense wave action on our first visit to Ortigia, coming all the way up the seawall.

We went back to Ortigia for a second day when the wind & waves were calmer and spent the whole day exploring the island.

One of the narrow walkways on Ortigia.

This is the facade of St. John the Baptist church...

and this is the interior. The roof was lost in an earthquake and it is now an open air church.

A typical Sicilian summer breakfast of granita câ brioscia, which we enjoyed on Ortigia.

One of the most interesting things we saw was the puppet theater museum (Museo dei Pupi).

Here we saw Pinnochio...

and an amazing assortment of other handmade puppets.

The variety of puppets...

and costumes was mind boggling.

The Vaccaro brothers who were responsible for all of the puppets in the museum and the puppet theater. The legacy they left behind still thrills & amuses to this day, and for many years to come.

The intricate design and craftsmanship speaks to the devotion that went into making each of the puppets.

This miniature shows how various scenes were changed in the puppet theater.

Monsters, a mermaid...

and even a fairy godmother were on display.

There was even a smurf band!

The workbench with its tools...

and the molds to make some of the puppets were on display as well.

The puppet museum and the puppet theater are located in the Guidecca, the old Jewish section of Ortigia. 

Some of the walkways were domed, with open sections in between.

The cathedral is located in the Piazza Duomo, which dates to the 5th century B.C. The cathedral was built on the site of a temple to Athena, with one of the columns from the temple used in building the cathedral.

At the far end of the Piazza Duomo is the Chiesa di Santa Lucia (Church of Saint Lucia). Saint Lucia is the patron saint of Siracusa and was martyred near this site in 304 A.D.

Another of the fascinating buildings is the Camera di Commercio.

Le Jacques Cartier was anchored at Ortigia. It is reputed to offer "adventure with 5 star travel".

Speaking of 5 star ... the hotel in the left background is a 5 star hotel on Ortigia. The second bridge in the background required us to duck as low as possible, lest we be decapitated.

A view of the island from our boat on the way to the sea caves.

Castello Maniace was constructed by Emperor Frederick II between 1232 & 1240. 

Basilica santuario Madonna delle Lacrime (Our Lady of the Tears) is a modern 20th century basilica, termed the upside down ice cream cone.

This is the first sea cave we approached...

and the view looking out from the second sea cave.

The rocks on this cliff looks like an animal preparing to leap into the sea.

As we approached this sea cave,...

we had no idea of the colors inside. 

The orange color are sea urchins below the water on the rocks.

The variety of sea caves, cliff formations, stalactites and colors almost made up for our aborted Amalfi coast tour of Capri and the Blue Grotto.

This rock island is termed the "Lion" by the locals.

We have discovered that Italian is not as closely related to Spanish as we thought. It's not that tough to understand the written language, but when spoken it is tough to catch the meaning. A couple of times I've defaulted to French, which seems to do better. In direct opposition to most countries we've visited we've found Northern Italians to be a bit more friendly & helpful (in general) than Southern Italians. There is more screaming & horn honking down here. Even the dogs bark at each other just walking down the street.

One day we drove quite far to the Valley of the Temples. It was quite impressive and we managed to avoid being rained on most of the time. The great part about traveling a lot is the range of people and experiences you enjoy. A possible downside is getting jaded. We try not to, but ...maybe. Leaving the Valley I said, "Well, that was interesting." "Yes", said Michael. "Five hours of driving interesting?, I asked. "No", said Michael. See. Jaded.

There wasn't much left of one of the first temples we saw.

The crypts carved out of the rock were interesting...

but some have experienced the ravages of time.

This century plant was as interesting as the temples...

with amazing flowers..

which were just beginning to open.

One of the more intact temples...

offered a more detailed view...

of what the original temple might have looked like before the ravages of time.

You can see from the photos how the sky kept changing throughout the day.

The girgentana goat with its twisted horns can be seen at the Valley of the Temples.

The fallen statue of Icarus by the Concordia Temple.

The Concordia Temple.

The cacti were in bloom while we were there.

This olive tree, based on the girth of the truck, may be as old as the Temples.

The colorful wildflowers were also in bloom, to Deirdre's delight.

Talking Trash In Sicily

Some of you know that a member of our family (not Justin, Alex or me) is deeply interested and committed to recycling. That member was deeply distressed in Sicily. At almost every pull over on the highway random trash & even bags of trash were deposited. We had noted up North many recycling bins. Strangely it appeared people had to have a card to use them --- that would seem counterproductive to encouraging the correct behavior, but they seemed to do it. No bins in the South that we saw. Actually Calabria was a lot cleaner. Enough about trash.

So, Sicily was behind us.  As we drove past, Mt. Etna signaled its joy in our leaving by gently belching a stream of smoke and ash into the air.  Michael asked if I thought that was normal and I opined that I thought it was always doing that.  The next day Mt. Etna erupted for the first time in over thirty years scattering ash over half of Sicily.  Guess I was wrong.

 So we were back to Calabria on our way to Puglia. Still raining. We stayed in an agriturismo so high up over the water I thought my nose would bleed. The road leading to it triggered at least two of my phobias -- perhaps three. Upon arrival, we were greeted by the most adorable man ever who spoke no English, but was committed to communicating with us. He toured us through the farm & lodging (views amazing), made us have our photo taken behind cutouts dressed in who knows what style and then settled us on the terraza. He brought us wine made right there from their own grapes. It was delicious. They make about 2500 liters each year and have groves of olive trees as well.

How do we know all this? Finally we hit on the fact that he and I both knew French --- school French, but it worked. It turns out the school children learned French until a couple of decades ago when they switched to English.  Thus he speaks French and his son speaks English He was a professor and he and his son run the farm. The family has been in the town since 1720 and owned the farm since the 1950's. Meeting nice people is the best, or one of the best, aspects of travel.

The view from the heights of Tenuta Mauri Agriturismo were stunning, even with the overcast skies.

Our "adorable old man", who may have been younger than we are, insisted on taking our photos...

as Italian farmers.

This adorable cat was part of the greeting party at the agriturismo.

The clouds were hanging just above the mountain tops...

and the overcast skies gave a soft look to the landscape and sea from our vantage point.

Another amazing cactus bloom about to fully open.

Heading to Puglia next. Take care.