PUGLIA

Tuesday saw the Griswald's Italian tour head down south to the region of Puglia.  After driving from Siena to Rome, we checked in at Leonardo da Vinci airport, just scraped through under the baggage limits and flew down to Brindisi.

Hopping off the plane, we were hit with hot and windy weather and we couldn't wait to get into our beautifully air conditioned mercedes hire car.

We somehow squeezed all of our luggage into the boot and drove further south to the historical town of Lecce, commonly referred to as 'the Florence of the south' because of the rich baroque architectural monuments found in the city.

Our accommodation was a great cave-like apartment right in the centre of town, but when we arrived we wasted no time in getting out for a walk around and a few beers and spritz's.

One of the main reasons we came to Lecce was because Bud had read so much about it in a kind of half cookbook, half travel diary written by the owners of Donavan's in St.Kilda.  That night we went to 'Alle due Corti' which the Donovan's raved about.

It didn't let us down and the highlight was tasting the 'Ciceri E Tria', a mix of boiled and fried pasta with a delicious local creamy sauce and chick peas.

After having a chat with Nonna, we went out for an evening stroll around this beautiful town.  It is a city full of surprises; one minute you are perusing designer fashion labels from Milan and the next you are faced with one of over 40 churches, adorned with decorative dodos and crazy looking gremlins.

Piazza del Duomo, the city's focal point amid the surrounding enclosed lanes

restored 2nd century AD amphitheatre, discovered in 1908 by construction workers

We stopped off at Caffe' Alvino for a smorgasbord of tasty sweets to choose from and then headed home for some much needed rest after a long day.

The next morning we were up and about early and down to the nearby cafe for breakfast which was free as part of the accommodation. After some orange juice, coffee and more sweets we headed off to see some of the sights.

It was not even 10am yet, but already it was a hot and dry 36 degrees.  We tried to get as much in before hitting the beach in the arvo.

First stop was the Basilica di Santa Croce.  Unfortunately most of the outside was covered with scaffolding whilst restoration was being undertaken, but we could still marvel at the crazy decorations up close. 18th century traveller Thomas Ashe thought it was the 'most beautiful building in the world' whilst another said the facade made him think a lunatic was having a nightmare haha!

inside the Basilica di Santa Croce

another of the 40+ churches that you stumble across 

Our friend Saverio that we stayed with in Milan (and who came with us to Sardinia) is originally from the South and he told us about his favourite beach called 'Goa' which is located almost under the arch of the Italian boot.

It was bloody hard to find as it didn't show up on the map, but the iPhone google maps did a great job and after taking a stab in the dark at an intersection, we came across beautiful clear blue water.

The beach had a great bungalow style beach cafe and their mojito's were second to none.  Unfortunately I read the menu wrong and the awesome salad I was expecting turned out to be a huge plate full of beetroot, pesto and pine nuts. It was the first time I had tried beetroot and after a few mouthfuls I gave up, disgusted by the taste and worried about what may come out the other end a few days later!

The wind started to pick up in the afternoon and although we hadn't had ample time to fry ourselves, we still got some good sun!

That night we went to another restaurant in Lecce that the Donovan's had recommended and it was just as good, if not better than the night before!

another serving of Ciceri E Tria, so good!

orecchiette pasta

The next morning it was time to leave Lecce and head for our next destination, Martina Franca. Along the way we stopped at a great little fruit shop operating out of the back of the truck which had some of the biggest watermelons I have ever seen!

nice melons

Anna was super excited to see that our accommodation had their own ape, and she was sure that this meant our apartment would be great.....and that it was.  We had a two level apartment with a rooftop terrace and another small terrace out the front door which looked out onto the narrow streets of the old quarter below, a great find by Bud.

Martina Franca was a beautiful town of winding alleys and blinding white houses, it felt as if we were in Mykonos.  However, the town also had amazing baroque buildings, large piazza's and iron-work balconies that almost touched each other above the narrow streets.

After spending the afternoon walking around the town, we stocked up on nibbles and drinks and went home.  The Batrouney's all had a siesta, whilst I read my book and then did a little 20min workout on the rooftop of our apartment.

As it approached 7pm, we cracked open the beers and sat out on the small terrace out front, played cards and then went out for dinner.

We ended up at Piazzetta Garibaldi and all enjoyed an absolute ripper of a meal, made even better by the service from Nonna and the free limoncello's at the end!

pasta with scampi and tomatoes

the restaurant was great inside, but lucky we got an outside table because it was stifling hot

Rising the next morning, Bud had taken over from my duties as Guida and had planned the day.  First stop was Ostuni, known as the "white city", it stands upon a hill and shines pearly white from a distance and is surrounded by century old olive groves as you drive up the hill and into the centro storico.

We managed to find a great shop where we stocked up on rolls and salads for lunch and then set off for the coast in search of Torre Guaceto, a nature reserve on the east coast of Southern Italy.

After coming across a large car park packed with cars about 1km from the coast, we decided to drive on further, hoping for a more secluded part of the beach.  Coming to a padlocked gate, we decided to be daring and ditch the car, jump the fence and see what lay ahead of us.

Although Daz thought we should turn back, we kept on walking and all of a sudden came out at a beautiful stretch of water with hardly anyone in sight.

We spent the afternoon swimming, enjoying our lunch and soaking up the sun and only after the two couples on either side of us started getting a little promiscuous did we decide to pack up and leave.

Back at Martina Franca it was beer o'clock and Will and I got stuck into a couple of 'La bier du Demon' beers which were 12% alcohol and actually did taste like they had a demon in them!

That night dinner was an interesting one.  After getting off to a really bad start by ordering the house urine, we made up for it with a great bottle of rose and tucked into the local Pugliese specialty, bombette.

The concept of bombette is that after the day's business, a butcher shop turns into a "fornelli pronto" (ready oven) at dinner time in order to sell the left over meat.  Diners enter to find small pieces of meat displayed in the butcher case that are ready for cooking.  These little "bombs" are usually veal and cheese and herbs rolled up together, but you can also get liver, diaphragm, sausages etc. with different types of herbs and vegetables mixed in - It was delicious!!

We ate a heap of meat that night, so we walked around for a while after dinner with the masses of Italians that were out on their evening "passeggiata" and then off home and in bed by around midnight-1am.

Bud had again planned the next day brilliantly which saw us head first to Cisternino, another whitewashed hill town resembling more a town in the Greek Islands than Italy.  Although it had pretty bland outskirts, the centro storico was pretty cool and there was a great communal garden with rural views.

Next stop was Locorotondo, a whisper quiet town with a extraordinarily great looking centro storico where everything was shimmering white aside from the blood-red flowers tumbling from the window boxes.  The streets are paved with smooth ivory-coloured stones and there are panoramic views out over the surrounding valleys, no wonder it is rated as one of the most beautiful towns in Italy.

Lunch was a sit-down affair at a great little family run restaurant called Trattoria al Vecchio Arco.  As the name suggests, we sat in an arch way which was shielded from the hot sun and had a great meal with the highlight being the stuffed eggplants and orecchiette with tomatoes.  The waiter was the son of the grossly overweight Nonna and was pretty funny how he tried to translate the Italian into English that even Anna couldn't understand!

Our final stop for the day was the one we were most looking forward to, Alberobello, a Unesco World Heritage site, famous for it's "Trulli houses".

The Zona dei Trulli is a dense mass of 1500 weird looking houses that look like they belong to gnomes or leprechauns or even the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz.

There are many theories behind the origin of the design, but the most popular theory is that due to high taxation on property, the people of puglia created dry wall constructions so that they could be dismantled when inspectors were in the area.

even the church of San Antonio was built Trulli style!

There wasn't much to do in the town apart from wander around and look at all of the souvenir shops, however we still loved it, such a weird and wacky place.

We were back in Martina Franca by the late afternoon and I was aching to get some physical exercise done, so it was up to the rooftop to kill two birds with one stone - catching the last of the suns power with 10mins of lunges!

We had had such a great meal at Piazzetta Garibaldi a few nights earlier that we all couldn't help but want to go back.  We all tried different meals and were again rapt with what entered our mouths and were again treated to free limoncello at the end, a great way to end our time in Martina Franca.

The next morning we had a 1-2hr drive to Matera (another Unesco World Heritage listed town) which is located north of the arch of Italy's boot.
Our first glimpse of its famous "sassi" (stone houses carved out of the caves and cliffs) will be etched in our minds for a long time to come, as it was just so amazing.

Matera is said to be one of the world's oldest towns, inhabited since the paleolithic age. The grottoes that dotted the gorge were adapted to become homes, and an ingenious system of canals regulated the flow of water and sewage.  An unsustainable increase in population led to the habitation of unsuitable grottoes - originally intended as animal stalls - and by the 1950's over half of Matera's population lived in the Sass with an average of 6 children.  The infant mortality rate was 50% and in the late 1950's negative publicity caused the government to forcibly relocate over 15,000 inhabitants to government housing schemes.

After arriving, we quickly got unpacked and set out to explore this crazy town.  The sun was beaming down on us at an alarmingly hot temperature and within 5 minutes of walking, we were already dripping and Will was already calling Anna 'Sweaty McGee' which is a bit of a family joke that I was let in on!

Chiesa di San Pietro Caveoso, built in 1300

We visited Casa-Grotta di Vico Solitario which gave us a glimpse of life in Matera.  The bed was in the kitchen and even a section for a pig and donkey!

We also visited the La Raccolta dell Acque which is a fascinating ancient complex of underground cistern and canals which was used to collect rainwater from roofs, streets and houses in the vicinity.

Bud had booked a ripper of a hotel called Locanda di San Martino that was built into the side of the mountain, and all rooms were literally like a cave.  The hotel even had a subterranean underground swimming pool!

Anna and my room

We only had one night in Matera before heading off to Positano, so we didn't waste any time in getting out and about to have a few drinks and a walk around the new town.  There was some sort of religious festival going on and we got caught up right in the middle of it!

Dinner was at Il Cantuccio and although the supposed air conditioning was non-existent, we enjoyed a great meal.

As had become our custom, we popped into a bar on the way home for a shot of limoncello which tastes amazing, but it acts as a great digestive!

Within minutes of us arriving back home, we heard huge loud bangs and literally thought we were getting bombed.  We ran outside to find fireworks going off ontop of the hill, it was really cool.