Flowers and fruit and cats, oh my!

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October 10 - Four weeks since landing in Madrid



Yesterday morning we woke up and went down to find the hotel owner, Joseph and his father, Isidoro waiting to serve us breakfast. Joseph immediately said to Sam, "I looked at your passport; you are Italian!" He said that he knew many people in the area with the last name "Petrillo." He seemed so pleased. We talked all through our breakfast of cappuccini, croissants, and cookies. The news was on, so many comments were made about Italy's government woes as well as the ridiculous situation in the United States right now. No one in Europe can believe it. For one, they don't know what's wrong with universal healthcare, and they think that the behavior of the Tea Party is no different than childish playground antics. Ok, back to the trip....we said our farewells to Joseph and Isidoro and thanked them for their hospitality keeping a big hotel open for us, the only guests. Isidoro stole a real cheek kiss while doing the fake cheek kiss with me. I took a photo of Sam with the two of them. We will remember those two.



Fortunately it was not raining for our drive. The clouds were threatening at times, but the further south we went, the better the weather got. The drive was fairly easy with the only real traffic around Bari. We made a detour at Andria to visit Castel del Monte - an octagonal-shaped castle with eight towers also octagonal-shaped, that was built in the thirteenth century by Frederick II. It has been significantly restored so did not posses the ancient feel of other places we have been, but it was still impressive. When we parked the car in the lot an old man came over and told us that "for a tip, your car will be safe." We paid him a tip and he promised to keep an eye on the car. I don't know what would have happened if we didn't pay, but with all of our luggage in the car, it seemed worth it. We were just ahead of many bus groups so we did a quick tour of the castle and then enjoyed walking around the outside where the views, and day's sky were remarkable. The clouds in the deep blue sky against the white fortress were beautiful.



We arrived at "our Villa" in the Salento - the far end of Puglia, around 4:00. It is much nicer than we had anticipated. The building is sort of a compound where three families can stay with a common courtyard, but we are the only people here this week. We have a two bedroom wing of the compound and our own roof-top terrace. There is a grape arbor around our patio, full with deep purple fruit, and in the courtyard there are orange and lemon trees - all loaded. Bougainvillea, in full bloom, hangs over the wall and there are Morning Glories blooming along the driveway. We are about one kilometer from the coast of the Ionian Sea and the land between our place and the coast is dotted with olive trees. We spent a couple hours on the roof-top terrace and took many photos of a stunning sunset over the Sea.



This will probably be the most relaxing week of our trip. Except....there are stray cats. We don't know how they ended up here. We expect that other guests fed them through the summer, but now we are probably the last renters until next spring. There are three cats about 6 months old and the mother has another litter of younger kittens that we discovered this morning. They are hungry and want us to know it. Sam immediately turned into the cat-whisperer and already has a favorite. Yesterday we fed them from the food we arrived with - peach yogurt and scrambled eggs. They ate like they were starving. Today we made a priority of getting cat food. We went out this morning and I chose the largest bag with a photo of a happy cat on it. I didn't try to read the label but when I got home I discovered that I bought Kitty Litter, not Kitty FOOD. I was bummed (as were the cats)! The stores close from 1:00 to 4:00 but we went back after 4:00 and got cat food. We don't want them to over-eat so we are starting with small amounts, but everyone is quieter this evening and I suspect their tummies are more satisfied than they have ever been. The young kittens are fine because they are nursing, but the mommy cat was thrilled to get some food and water. We are already sad thinking ahead to their fate once we leave and I'm sure some would say that we shouldn't feed them, but it seems the best option for while we are here. The situation with stray cats and dogs in Italy and Spain is really tragic. I wish there was an organization Veterinarians-Without-Borders that would travel the world neutering stray animals.



This afternoon we drove into Santa Maria de Leuca, the town on the tip of Puglia. The coast road is free of traffic, but we imagined how different it would be in August. There are many hotels and restaurants along the way - all closed for the season. Santa Maria de Leuca is a white town and the contrast between the white buildings and the blue sky and turquoise sea is powerful. We walked the length of the sea front promenade and stopped for a seafood antipasti and local rosé wine. There was a cycling group run by backroads.com that had just completed a ride. We were both wishing we had done something like that. Another time, perhaps. There was also an ATM machine that did NOT reject our card as had happened earlier in the day. It is an uncomfortable event to put your card into an ATM far from home, but when it does not result in cash coming out of the slot, it is particularly disturbing. Fortunately the Bancomat worked.



Tonight we enjoyed the sunset from our roof-top terrace and saw the half-moon in the sky. Life is good.

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