Puglia - The Heel of the Boot

 We have spent the past 10 days in the Puglia region of Italy. Almost everywhere we drove outside of the cities and towns, we saw either vineyards or olive tree orchards on the side of the road, so we were never worried about being lost. We have been enjoying the finished products, along with the fabulous fresh seafood along the coast.

Our first stop was in Bari, a port city on the Adriatic Sea. The city has a rich and colourful past, being founded by the Greeks and then taken over by the Romans in the 3rd century BC, and other conquerors  later, a history prevalent in the Puglia area. It is fascinating to see evidence and read about the ancient times and various rulers, especially for those of us from such a young and peaceful country. Bari's Old Town, like all the others was a joy to walk around with very few vehicles challenging the narrow and curvy alleyways. We made a daytrip to the inland city of Altamura, famous for its ornate Cathedral and heavenly bread. In older times with fewer ovens available neighbours worked together to bake, hand moulding bread dough in odd shapes so they knew who the loaves belonged to. The tradition continues today and the taste was great.

From Bari, we slid down the coast further south, making short stops into both Polignano a Mare and Monopoli, both seaside towns with a heavy wind day causing the waves to crash into the rocky cliffs with the town immediately above. It was captivating to watch the inevitable erosion and wonder how much longer the cliffside homes, some with concrete decks overhanging the cliff wall, would survive. Later on we saw coastal pictures of nice, sunny days with very little wave action and altered our initial opinions. We then drove inland for a one night stay in Alberobello, filled with odd shaped trulli homes. The huts consisted of white limestone walls with conical roofs stone slab roofs on top. Legend has it that the rooftops, put together without mortar, were easy to take down when the 15th century tax collector came to town, and then reassemble when he left. True or not, the stone rooftop kept the tiny homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Our next stop was in Lecce, inland from the east coast. Lecce has a nice Old Town and we spent a day passeggiando (strolling around) the multitude of immaculately adorned churches (baroque style) and a couple of ancient Roman amphitheatres, one of which held 25,000 people in it's day. being inland the old town was not built on a hill so it was very easy to walk through the many alleyways and occasionally get lost. On another day we toured around the south end of the Salento Peninsula making multiple stops but the best ones were Otranto (east coast) and Gallipoli (west coast), both lovely places to visit. One of the highlights in Gallipoli was entering the seaside moated castle and watching an impressive 360 degree video displayed on the stone dome of a large room within the castle, depicting the history of the region.

From Lecce, it was on to Matera but not before stopping in Taranto on our way, where the Old Town was on an island in a bay with bridges on both sides moving traffic over to the small island. Avoiding the tiny old town roads we opted for a mainland parking spot close to one of the bridges and then spent a couple of hours wandering around the history in front of us. Matera though, was the highlight of our SE Italy trip, dating back to the 15th century BC and now a  UNESCO World Heritage site. Carved out of rocky slopes on a steep mountain it was filled with sorrowful beauty. Residents lived in rock hewn caves with their farm animals up until the middle of the 20th century when misery and unsanitary conditions forced the government to build homes and relocate the citizens close to the valley fields they farmed, kilometres away. More recently the caves were upgraded by businesses (shops, restaurants and hotels), creating a flourishing flow of tourists starting in 2014. The city is a maze of zigzagging staircases, winding alleyways and cave dwellings  but it was good exercise (Pocahontas kept calling it something quite different) and well worth it for not only the views but the history lesson. We spent two full days exploring different sides of the old town, Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano. It was a magical and unique landscape that we were glad to have encountered.

That marked the end of our Italy adventure this time around. Beyond Matera, our highlights included Arzachena, Alghero and Santadi (Sardinia), Polignano a Mare, Lecce and Otranto (mainland). Tomorrow we will fly to Malta, a tiny country with a lot of history in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Ciao.

Polignano a Mare coastline. On this windy day, the waves were crashing against the rocky shoreline and it was clear this had been going on for some time. We wondered how long the buildings on the edge would survive Mother Nature.

We spent one night in the unique town of Alberobello, home to the limestone walled huts with conical roofs of stone. Although they date back centuries ago they are now used mostly for storage, and for tourists like us who wanted to share the experience.

The Otranto Castle and it's moat. The rooms inside the castle were well documented so it made for an interesting visit.

We stopped for lunch while visiting Gallipoli on the Ionian Sea coast. Most of our meals in Italy have been consumed outside with the lovely weather we have experienced.

After leaving Gallipoli we continued on to the inland town of Galatina on our extended day trip from Lecce. Looking for a parking spot, we accidentally drove right into the main square from behind the church. We then then quickly maneuvered around a barrier to prevent vehicles to get back onto a normal street. Hardly anybody noticed because of the double decker carousel entertaining everyone.

The Basilica di San Croce (Holy Cross) in Lecce. Almost all of the many churches in the city had the same baroque design. The interiors were similar, reflecting some amazing work by artisans of the time.

This was the smaller of the two Roman amphitheatres in Lecce, a city with history that we could only dream about.

One of the main squares in the old city of Matera. Underneath the square was a massive rainwater collection system (Palombaro del Caveoso) that was only discovered within the last 50 years. Upon

 discovery they still found clean water below, a tribute to the architects of the past. We went down to a staircase to see the cistern which could hold 5 million litres of water, and drawn up by the locals via numerous wells.

A view from Matera to some of the original cave homes carved out of the cliff below the Murgia Plateau. From Matera it was only a 4 hour hike down to the bottom of the ravine and back up the other side to explore the untouched cave homes but we settled for a nice lunch with a view instead.

A view from one side of Sasso Caveoso to the other, with the Cathedral tower showing at the top on the right. The Caveoso side of the old city had more of the original cave homes and rock chiseled churches intact vs. Barisano where a few more reno's had been completed.

This is a view from one side of Sasso Barisano to the other, with the Cathedral tower in the background. It was also fascinating to walk around, but as you can see, a walk down meant a walk back up at some point. We walked all around both Sasso's, one each day, with specific sites to enter sprinkled throughout the old city.

Another History Lesson

Further along the SW coast of Sardinia we stopped for a few days in the charming town of Oristano, another spot with a rich history. Beyond walking around the old city, we drove over to the nearby Sinis Peninsula for some more history at the ancient Tharros site, established in the 8th century BC. Generations of people lived there until 1050 AD. The foundations of the tiny homes, thermal baths, aqueducts and more were still in place making for an interesting walkabout.

Leaving Oristano we drove further south to the SE corner of the island where we settled into the village of Santadi. Our first attraction was the Grotte Is Zuddas, a beautiful cave system beneath an inland hill where a tour guide took us into 5 cavernous spaces filled with amazing tubular formations, millions of years old and still growing. While we have been inside lovely cave systems before, this was the first time we had ever seen the very rare erratic aragonites, bright white, curvy, thread-like formations with no sense of gravity, growing in whichever direction suited them. It was a masterpiece of nature. The following day we drove across a causeway to the 'island' of Sant'Antioco where we only found a few of the ancient ruins we were hunting for. Some days it might be useful to be surrounded by tourists seeking the same treasures at unmanaged sites! All was not lost, returning to Santadi we (I) got to enjoy a fine wine produced locally and rated highly by the Wine Spectator. I would have loved to purchase some additional bottles to take with us but we were leaving the island the next day.

We are now back to the mainland, in Bari at the SW end of Italy, also known as the Heel of the Boot. Arrivederci. 

On our way to the Tharros archeological site from Oristanto we stopped first at the impressive historical museum in Cabras. Some of the artifacts shown dated back to earlier than the 8th century BC. The background picture is from the actual site.

I took this picture from the top of the rebuilt Tower of San Giovanni. The picture only covers about one third of the actual site. We walked around the whole site with a map that described each of the areas.

A view of the old town in Oristano taken from the top of the Tower of Mariano II, a king who had the tower built and named it after himself, of course. Most of the streets in the Old Town were much narrower and usually vehicle-free, making it a treat to walk around or sit outside for drinks or meals.

The Organ, inside the Grotte Is Zuddas cave system, near Santadi. This particle piece was damaged when the floor of the cave dropped almost a foot a million years ago.

This is an example of the rare and amazing aragonites that were all over one of the vast rooms in the cave. The tiny extensions that were slowly growing (1 cm every 1000 years), grew in all directions, defying gravity. Our guide referred to them as 'angel's hair'. They were more impressive in person.

We were unprepared when we came across this lovely beach in Porto Pino so we had to settle for lunch while watching others enjoy themselves. A few days earlier, near Oristano, we did get to have a swim in the Mediterranean on another nice sandy beach.

Safe Driving in Sardinia

Without a good public transportation system on the island of Sardinia, we decided to rent a car to help get us around. We chose a small car knowing many of the roads would be smaller and parking would be much easier......which is true if you are lucky enough to find a spot. Fortunately it was October and there were fewer tourists on the road which made it a bit easier.......provided you stayed clear of the crazy Italian drivers who like to drive very fast.

Our first stop was in the capital city of Cagliari along the southern coast. We spent a full day walking around the hilly city, starting at the 12th century Castle of San Michelle up high above the city (a city within itself) and then immersed ourselves in the old historic centre below with some Roman ruins and narrow laneways. Escaping the busy city we drove all the way to the NE corner of the island (a leisurely 4 hours) with a plan to slowly work our way back to Cagliari. We picked a a rustic looking but well built B&B granite walled room, 20 km's inland from the coast in a rural area of Arzachena as our home for 3 nights. Our first full day took us over to the east coast where we acted like we were rich and famous, touring their haunts of Porto Cervo and Baja Sardinia. We saw some very nice homes, but some even nicer yachts that were 20-30 metres in length. Rather than shop in the Milan style stores, we purchased gelatos and watched the full-time staff clean every speck of dust off their owner's toys. On Day 2 we came down to earth heading for the northern coast near us, but it was fraught with disruptions that never would have occurred for the rich and famous. Our drive to Capo D'Orso was halted half way when the winding coastal road was closed for race car time trials over an 8 km stretch. After being shuttled into a beach parking lot we decided to watch the cars rev their engines and take off for a while then decided to find an alternate route to our second planned destination, Palau, where we enjoyed some harbourfront time and lunch. That went well until we visited an 1880's fortress beyond Palau and found it closed from 1-3 pm for "riposo" (siesta). We snapped a few photos of the fortress from below and moved on. Our haphazard tour was not over. After returning to Capo D'Orso just as the time trials were finished we found the parking lot and entry gate closed to the short hike to the popular The Bear rock formation. After a short riposo wait (till 3 pm) the entry gate opened but not the parking lot. Together with the other visitors we all made 3 point turns on the small dead-end street in search of roadside parking spots. We then made our way back and up to the top of the hill where we used our imagination to look at the large weather formed rock that was the main attraction, along with the scenic 360 degree views of the coast and villages below. We decided to call it a semi-successful day and headed home for some nice Italian wine, which we felt we earned.

Departing Arzachena, we drove from the east coast over to the west coast, stopping in Alghero for several more days. Along the way we made a slight detour to the town of Castelsardo and it's hilltop walled castle area, where we walked along the cobblestone alleys and visited a few museums. Alghero had it's own Old Town which we visited several times since it was only a 20 minute walk from our guest house. A trip to the beautiful Neptune's Grotto (cave) was unsuccessful due to high winds making for a risky entry into the seaside cave. Pocahontas was less disappointed since it meant we didn't have to descend 650 steps to the cave and back up again after. On another day we drove down the winding coastal road to the charming town of Bosa where we spent most of the day.

Tomorrow we will drive further south to Oristano, another coastal town. The seafood has been awesome and we are looking forward to more.

While in Cagliari, we walked up to the Castello di San Michelle which was surrounded by a moat. The views of Cagliari below were stunning.

Walking back down to the historic centre of Cagliari we came across an ancient Roman amphitheatre.

Our 'rustic room' patio, which was recently built, in a rural area outside of Cagliari. The inside was well designed and it was a pleasant stay

The beach area in Baja Sardinia, still quiet early in an October morning. There were many nice sandy beaches on the east side of the island, with more rocky ones on the west (but better for water sports).

Some modest seaside homes in Porto Cervo, a very wealthy seaside town. It was a favourite get-away for rich Europeans and the shops were ready for them to visit.

The northern seaside town of Castelsarda. Sardinia has a rich history that many European dynasty's relished so all of the coastal towns and cities had castles and fortresses to try and protect the ruler's at the time. It also meant a lot of hillside walks for the interested tourists.

Alghero Old Town at night when we walked there for dinner. Every day has been in the 20's so far in Sardinia, so night time dinners outdoors were popular.

Bosa, another coastal town with some good exercise to reach the Castle. We finished our visit with a fabulous late lunch at a well regarded restaurant.

An Old Town home in Bosa with some happy plants. The coastal drive from Alghero was very scenic to drive both there and back.

A few of the 650 stairs required to reach the Neptune Grotto (cave) just north of Alghero. The steps go all the way down to the shoreline and unfortunately the winds that day made it too risky to enter the cave so we will have to be satisfied with internet pictures.