From Calabria to Puglia

We enjoy a nice breakfast in this beautiful place. When we are done we ask Mario if he can give us a short tour of the place. He is happy to do it. He starts with the old olive press’s and explains that originally, they used to be in the large room in the middle of the house. This was because they used donkeys to move the press and crush the olives. In 1900, they got electricity and moved the press’s into the smaller room with a gear and belt system moving the large millstones. From there, water is used to separate the oil from sediments and it goes through a few of theses filtering tanks and then into a storage tank underneath.

Family Chapel at BNB

He showed us the tank from the breakfast room through a plexiglass view down to the basement. Mario then took us outside to the family chapel. The olive plantation has been in his family since 1700 and there used to be around 40 people living here which included the workers and their families. This is where they and some of the surrounding neighbors would come to church on Sundays. Today they just harvest the olives and they are processed elsewhere.
We thank him for the tour and then get ready to leave.

Ancient Olive Tree

After checking out, we head down the road past the very old olive trees and start our journey for today. We are going to the neighboring province of Puglia. Along the way we plan on stopping at a few hill towns where there is a special kind of building. First we ride along the coast of Calabria and then Puglia following the Gulf of Taranto. We are basically traveling from the boot toe to the upper boot heel of Italy. From Taranto, we turn inland toward our first stop of the day, Martina Franca. Arriving in Martina Franca, my driving switches from easy country road to defensive city traffic. The challenge is to find parking near the entrance to the old center of town. We pass one sign for parking and then turn in to a second area. There are no spaces so we turn around and head for the other area. We inadvertently pass the parking area and continue down a narrowing street. Following signs we turn left and the one lane street is down to a half as a truck is working there.,it is a tight squeeze for our Fiat but we push the side view mirrors in and manage to pass with just inches on each side. We see a spot and I practice my parallel parking with some spotting help,from Carol. Next we have to decipher the parking sign which seems to indicate it is free from 1300 to 1700.

Streets of Martina Franca

As it is 1315, we lock things up and walk to the main gate to the historic center. There is a tourist info place there and we get a map and some information on what to see from the helpful lady. We go through the gate of St Stefano and past the large Palazzo Ducale which is now the city hall. We see why the parking is free as all of the shops and most of the restaurants seem to close down at 1300. As we get to the central square, the Basilica of St Martin is open so we check it out. The exterior and interior are nice but after all the amazing mosaic churches that we have seen recently, it seems a little plain. We stroll through the streets and a few other churches are closed until we come to the small Purgatory Mount Church. The Church of Purgatory is dedicated to Holy Mary of Grace and was built in 1649. It was built next to the cemetery of St Martin and an inscription starts out with ” the souls in purgatory ardently ask you for help”. Inside the small chapel is a painted stone statue of Santa Maria Della Grazia.
We leave the chapel and decide to go back to the car and continue our journey.

Locorotondo

We have come into these hills to see the towns of Locorotondo and Alberobello and the surrounding area. The area and towns are famous for the beehive shaped trulli houses. There is still speculation on who really built these and why. Most are believed to have been built as early as the 13th century. They are round and have whitewashed limestone walls with conical fieldstone roofs. The roofs are designed in such a way that mortar is not needed to keep the stones together. The theory is that the trulli were peasant dwellings and the design allowed the roofs to be removed for any Royal or taxman visits. Roofless dwellings were not taxed so it seems like trying to find ways to avoid taxes goes back quite a ways in history.
Leaving the traffic of Martina Franca, we immediately start to see trulli’s in the surrounding countryside.

Trulli Old

They are very cool looking and as we approach Locorotondo, they look even more impressive against a darkening stormy sky. We turn down a side street to explore without worrying about traffic on the main road. We are able to get some nice pictures of the trulli’s as well as stone boundary line walls. As we near the end of the country lane, we get a great view of the hill town of Locorotondo and its circular white walls. The sky is really dark and it starts to rain as we turn back onto the main road. Since it is raining, we decide to proceed to Alberobello which is only another five miles or so away. Nearing the town, the skies unload a torrent of rain. I come to a spot where water is rushing across the road and decide it is not safe to drive across. My only alternative is to turn up a street that has a do not enter sign. I weigh the risk and drive halfway up it and pull over. We are very near the bottom of a hill and the water is rushing down the street like a stream. Several cars that were behind me turn up the same road and continue up it. This gives me the impetus to continue up the street and turn onto another, once again going the right direction on the street. We turn uphill and find another place to park and wait for this storm to hopefully pass.

Trulli Beautiful

After about a half hour the rain slows down and then eventually stops completely. We give it another 10 minutes or so to let the water hopefully drain off the streets below.
We are not sure if more storms may be coming so we decide to forego walking around Alberobello and instead drive on to Poliganao a Mare, our destination for tonight. Fortunately, we do not encounter any deep lakes or rivers on the road and then start a slow descent down toward Polignano and the sea. It only takes us about forty minutes to reach the town, however road construction seems to be blocking the street where we are supposed to park. We call the owner of our BNB and he says he will come get us and show us where to park. The BNB has a private lot that is locked and is costing us 10 Euros a day. The owner finds us and we follow his car around all the construction to the parking lot. We put our stuff in his car and he drives us into the historic part of town where we are not allowed to drive or park. We get a map of the town and checked into our room which is definitely as advertised, a small double room. The nice part is right outside our room is a covered sitting room and steps up to the rooftop deck with a view of the sea. It seems like the skies are darkening again so we may not get to use it today. We just settle in and relax while it does in fact rain outside.
It stops raining around sundown and we head out to explore and find a place to eat dinner. We walk down to the waterfront where the subdued evening lighting makes for some nice pictures.

Polignano A Mare

We can see that the town is situated on cliffs high above the sea. We walk to the main square and peek inside the cathedral. It has some really cool items inside that we will revisit tomorrow. We walk across town and stop in at La Cantina del Vino, a small wine bar. Our BNB gave us a coupon for a free glass of wine and apps. We get to try the local spicy pepperoni/salami, tarilla, and the local negroamaro red wine. The tarilla is a local bar type snack with great flavor that is hard to describe. While there, locals come and go with their own bottles being filled directly from barrels. We end up taking a bottle of the red, some tarilla, and a piece of the salami with us. From the wine bar, we go to Leo’s Braceria which is a butcher shop where you pick your steak and other assorted meats, some sides, and wine, and after they grill it, eat across the street in their outdoor covered seating area. Since it is early by Italian standards, we enjoy the whole place to ourselves.

I am Sharing

We share a nice T Bone steak, sausage, bacon wrapped bacon, and two other meat rolls. We have side dishes of Potatoes and grilled vegetables. It is an excellent and enjoyable meal accompanied by a few minutes of darkness when the electricity went out. After our meal we stop for a gelato before heading back to our room for the night. Tomorrow should be a relaxing day and we hope the weather improves for us.
Expenses
Rental Car 90.3E
Gas 19E
Parking 10E
Wine, Salami, tarilla 17E
Dinner and Wine at Leo’s Braceria 34E
Gelato 4E
Casa Dorsi BNB 60E
Walked 3 Miles