Blogs from Ostuni, Apulia, Italy, Europe

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Europe » Italy » Apulia » Ostuni July 12th 2023

Final day in the beautiful Pulgia region. Today was driving slowly to Bari via the white city of Ostuni, La Citta Bianca, with its whitewashed walls. It was sighted when we were still far from it as the old town is built on top of a hill and is still fortified by its ancient walls. From high above, for as far as you can see, the plain below is a sea of olive trees. The region is a producer of high-quality olive oil and wine. We circum-navigated by walking, the strong defensive walls built upon the hill-tops protruding rock. Tumbling clusters of white-washed houses wind around the hillside, at the top of which, proudly surveying the surrounding land, sits the magnificent Gothic cathedral. Originally the practice of lime-washing town's served as a means of lightening up ... read more

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Ostuni October 14th 2016

Puglia (Apulia) and Calabria 2016 NOTE: This is our 6th trip to Puglia and Calabria since 2009. If you are reading this blog with plans to visit either area, I would suggest that you check my blog entries of 2015 and 2014, where I give detailed addresses, phone numbers and GPS locations for all of the places that we have stayed at. There are also entries dating back to 2009 that include different b&bs as well as Basilicata and Abruzzo. This year was a near duplicate of the last few years. For some useful cell phone/tablet apps, see text at the end of the blog entry. Monday September 12, 2016. Our friends drove us to Pearson Airport in Toronto for a 10:25 pm departure time with Alitalia. As usual neither Carol nor I were able to ... read more
2agriturismo casa di botro  (8)
4B&B Dolce Felline  (1)
8Masseria Baronali  (8)

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Ostuni April 26th 2016

We traveled eight hours by train from Padova to Ostuni on Saturday. The train ride was pleasant and not very crowded in first class, and you could get espresso in the next car from a surly baristo! We are staying in an apartment on a very busy piazza, not far from the historic area of the town. It's well-located for catching buses and trains, if a bit noisy. The first two nights were really active, since it was a three day weekend (It was Liberation Day...we were disappointed that we weren't invited to some sort of festivity, being descendants of the liberators...). Ostuni is known for it's chicness and nightlife and people come for day-trips and the weekend. We've seen a few Americans, but most tourists are Italian. Ostuni has a small, hilly, and maze-like historic ... read more
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If you look closely, you will see the hundreds of cigarette butts discarded just before getting on the train...
View from our apartment in Ostuni

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Ostuni July 16th 2015

After a decent few naps on board off we go, after a simple port exit, on the short hop to the camp site Cathy chose & I had booked last week as we knew we'd be shattered today. The Dyson took us to a very pleasant industrial estate near Ostuni- now I'm not that fussy but... We couldn't use the Neff (keep up.... the notebook) as no Wifi but thankfully I could get a Miele (tsk... the mobile) signal & got the co-ordinates off their website – the ones in the Caravan Club book were wrong. Then the Dyson threw 2 wobblies, sent us up totally wrong roads but we got there in the end with tempers in one piece hahaha! A nice sight this, not very busy either despite having 800 pitches – each pitch ... read more
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Europe » Italy » Apulia » Ostuni September 25th 2013

Italy's Puglia and Calabria Regions in the deep south. September 23 - October 17, 2013 This is our 6th visit to the region of Puglia in the last 10 years or so. Some of our previous trips are also on this blog. Our trips to Puglia always include one or more regions (Calabria, Abruzzo or/and Basilicata) In 2013 it was Puglia and Calabria. September 23, Monday We decided to travel to Toronto a day early(we live 200 km north) and stay at the Best Western on Eglington Avenue (first time.) We were surprisingly upgraded to a large suite with a jacuzzi. NICE! Joe's Best: the hotel suite Carol's Best: same l... read more
La casa di botro
la cas di botro
adriatic

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Ostuni December 20th 2009

Alright, we didn’t quite have time to finish our adventures in Apulia. So here we go again… Even though we didn’t feel like we were doing a lot of “real” work around the property we rarely had a day off. We did small jobs around the property, cleaned the house, collected wood, or went on the sometimes all day adventures to town. On our one and only day off we were very excited to take a trip to the sea. The place where we stayed was far enough down the heel that we were smack in the middle of the Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea. We had yet to see any type of ocean or sea since we have been in Europe so when Cybill suggested we take the big red van for the day we jumped ... read more
Ice
The Little Man That Looked Over Us
Em and the Sunset

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Ostuni December 3rd 2009

Wwoof location number 2 took us to a beautiful location in the heel of the boot of Italy. Officially located in the area of Ostuni, the nearest town was actually Cisternino with a current population of 12,000 which during the summer months quadrupled to almost 50,000. Our meeting place to be picked up was the Fasano train stazione at 12.00 as the hour approached 2.30 we finally, after searching for a public phone and only finding ones out of service, had to ask a local for use of their cell phone. This conversation was a bit difficult as I used my broken Italian to explain our situation. This should have been our first clue of the adventure that awaited us on our 4 week stint at the trullo. The Trullo is the traditional living structure ... read more
Trullo
Emily on Trullino
Stresha

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Ostuni November 4th 2009

Ok, I guess it's time for a longer installment. There isn't actually any Internet here either, but there is an Internet cafe roughly close by. We went last night but I didn't have time to write an entry. I was busy researching flights and hostels for my next planned stops. But that comes later. So last post I explained the situation of Antonio the creeper.  The expected wwoofer, gisela, did end up arriving that nght, to my great relief. She was quite the character. She is a 42-year-old German woman who had been traveling and doing various internships and work exchanges and travels for 5 and a half years. She spoke all the same languages I do: Spanish, English, Italian, and German. She had traveled the Americas from Canada to chile. She was one of ... read more




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