Blogs from Apulia, Italy, Europe

Today I’ve booked an hour and a bit’s train ride south to the city of Lecce, which I’ve often seen referred to as The Florence of the South. I follow the crowd from the station towards the “Centro Histórico”. First impressions are that it doesn’t seem quite as pristine as Florence, but there’s certainly no shortage of buildings with intricately carved facades. I think I remember Florence as having a pedestrian-only zone in its historic centre, but if there’s one of those here no one seems to be taking a lot of notice - cars charging headlong up narrow alleyways packed with pedestrians. It feels like it’s only a matter of time until there’s carnage. I hope the city’s got good ambulances, and lots of them. I’m glad Issy isn’t here. First stop is the Piazza ... read more

I meet Barbie at the bus stop for today’s little exercise, a trip 20 kms or so inland to the small town of Alberobello. I haven’t done overly much research on this, but from what little I’ve seen it seems to be mostly notable for a few houses with conical shaped stone rooves. We walk up from the bus stop into the main square which overlooks the main group of stone topped buildings. It seems that I might perhaps have understated the case just a fraction. There are hundreds of them; an entire large village covering the whole hillside. The view is stunning. Whilst this is the main concentration, it’s certainly not the only one; there are plenty of other examples either by themselves or in small groupings all around the town, as well apparently as ... read more

We’ve decided that us Aussies are probably the world’s least passionate conversationalists. We tend to mutter. We also tend to understate everything; we’d use a phrase like “this is a bit of alright” to describe one of the Seven Wonders of the World. And our tone of voice couldn’t ever be construed to imply that we were even vaguely excited about anything. Southern Europeans, on the other hand, radiate passion whenever they open their mouths, even though most of the time we’ve got absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. It also seems to be compulsory in these parts to use your hands to accompany any verbal utterance, no matter how mundane, and if you’re getting really excited about something, well everyone else needs to stand back or suffer the consequences. Issy says she wonders whether ... read more

We’re a bit slow off the mark after a long day of travelling yesterday. Sleep also proved a bit elusive; Monopoli felt very much like a party town at 2am as we struggled in vain to get some shuteye. I head out for an aimless wander along the waterfront past the old city walls. There are some rusty old cannons sitting on the section in front of our apartment which perhaps hints a bit at their history. They were apparently built in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries when Muslim pirates started getting a bit unfriendly towards the locals. Shortly afterwards they then also helped keep out the Spanish Armada during a three month siege, which seems like an impressive effort for such a small town. Next up is the port - the harbour’s well ... read more

Who will come-a-knockin' with me to see how many doors will open to us as we walk beside walls along the paths and steps of Lecce old town?... read more