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Published: October 2nd 2022
Me with a teeny Fiat 500
I think I could have picked it up it was so small!We had a fabulous day today visiting the towns of Alberobello and Ostuni, with a swim in the Adriatic in between!
We were up earlier this morning, ready to leave at 8:30. We planned on scrambled eggs with our leftover mushrooms and cheese, but the stovetop was acting up, so we had yogurt and toast instead, plus excellent strong coffee made in the electric espresso maker. We headed out on the drive to Alberobello, which is about 1 1/2 hrs away, through olive groves (some diseased and some newly planted), and lots of prickly pear cactus and vineyards. This area, Salento, is quite dry and flat. As we approached Alberobello the olive groves were much healthier and lush. The drive as we approached Alberobello was very pretty, much more lush and hilly.
Alberobello is a very cute town, and an UNESCO World Heritage site. It is filled with thousands of “trullo”, which are beehive shaped houses, often white tipped. These are drystone buildings (built without mortar) and are of varying ages, none older than the 14th C (which is pretty old!). Apparently they were built this way to avoid paying taxes, if the tax collector was coming to town,
the houses could be dismantled. That would have been a heck of a lot of work though.
The town is named after the oak forest that used to cover this area. It is a very touristy town, but still lots of fun to visit. Fabio the fiat got us there no problem, aided by Rosso’s expert driving, and Betho’s expert navigation (aided by google) skills! We found a parking lot close to the action, and walked a short distance into the town, finding the lookout mentioned in Lonely Planet, for a view of thousands of trullo. We wandered around the town, first in a more residential area, then a more touristy area, and popped into numerous cute shops. Both Beth and I got lovely Italian leather purses at “Cose Bella”. We had a quick coffee stop (I had a macchiato), and we wandered around, admiring the very picturesque streets of Alberobello, and all the super-cute trullo. I found a trulli charm for my Pandora bracelet, which will be a nice addition (I like to get charms on my travels).
We passed the Church of Sant’Antonio, but couldn’t go in as some type of service was going on (it
Alberobello
Look at all the trulli is Sunday today). The little church was packed. I peeked through the doors to see a very interesting fresco (it looked like a tree of life with Jesus in the centre).
We decided lunch was in order, and found a table in the shade at a place called “Plantone”, which turned out to be a great choice. We all had sandwiches called ”pucce”, which were made with a round, thin, flatbread baked with olives. I had pucce trullo (turnip greens, cheese, and sun dried tomatoes) which was delicious. Ross and Susan both had a speciality of the area, a pucce with tuna, cheese, and salami, which they really liked. I had my sandwich with a glass of rosé, which was very nice.
We continued on our way, walking back to Fabio the fiat, and headed to the coves of Torre Cintola, in Monopoli, along the Adriatic, for a swim. We drove through massive olive groves, and windy, twisty country roads on the way to Torre Cintola. Besides olives there were fig and pomegranate trees. Torre Cintola is a picturesque, rocky area, with lots of little inlets with artificially created sandy areas, which were used to extract blocks of
the rock, which were used for construction. As a result of this excavation, there are steps carved into the rock which are very handy for accessing the sea. We found a nice spot, and Ross and I ventured in for a swim. It wasn’t a hot day, and it was a bit windy there, but once we got in the water was quite nice. I’m really glad I got a swim in the Italian side of the Adriatic!
After our swim, we headed to the hill town of Ostuni, about an hour away. The drive was very scenic, up and up as we ascended into the town. We found a parking area where we could leave Fabio as we explored the town. Ostuni is a very pretty hill town with whitewashed buildings. It is located at the end of the trulli region and at the beginning of the dry Salerno region. We climbed up into the town, and decided a gelato stop was in order (I had lemon and strawberry, which was refreshing. Beth had chocolate and pistachio, which I think I’ll try next 😀).
We walked around the narrow streets of Ostuni, popping into shops along the
way (we got pretty hand painted mugs and olive oil). We found the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, which was built between 1437 and 1495. The ceiling, with 18th C. art, is quite beautiful. We also found the Chiesa di San Francesco D’Assisi, which dates back to 1304, although it has been restored and altered over the years. It was quite pretty inside.
We walked back down to the parking area, retrieved Fabio, and drove back to Lecce, arriving about 6:30 or so. We put a load of laundry in the washer (there is a small but very efficient washer in the apartment), and enjoyed Aperol Spritzes (I think there is a rule in Italy that you must have at least one Aperol Spritz a day!). Ross and I later went to the pizza place across the street for take away pizza (we got a mushroom pizza; and one with tuna, tomato sauce, cheese, and onion. It sounds odd but was excellent). We enjoyed our pizzas with beer and the rest of the red wine. Later we shared the red wine liqueur (called Teranino) we bought at the Split airport (it was really good), and some more of the
chocolate we got in Split (Adriatic sea salt flavour this time). I just googled Teranino and it is a combination of Terrano wine and fruit brandy based on 10 herbs (it has notes of cinnamon and cloves). It really was quite delicious.
Well, it’s midnight now, and it’s been a full day today, so I’m ready to sign off.
Buona notte!
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Faye Walker
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Alberobello and Ostuni
No wonder you called the day fabulous. So much fun and shopping!