Puglia Day 13 - return to Munich

After breakfast we had the unpleasant surprise of no electricity. The whole B & B was dark; judging by Alessandro's reaction this must be a common occurrence. He didn't offer us any assistance at all. We were just about finished packing, and there was enough light from outside to finish. But it seems that the water pump is electric; there was enough water in the pipes to flush the toilet once. We brushed our teeth and washed our hands with mineral water. To be sure, Alessandro (our host) offered to bring us a pot of water, but after waiting many minutes for this to materialize we improvised, using the light from the open door and the white screen of my navigation device. Summary of Il Gallo felice - a pretty but small room, beautiful garden, good breakfast, but the host was rather strangely withdrawn.

With loads of time to kill before our flight we stopped in Locorotondo near Martina Franca. Another hot day that soon had us wilting. After refreshing ourselves with a caffe granita, we meandered through the old town.

The town was small, but especially charming. A wedding was underway in the cathedral. We stepped in briefly, the spectacle was moving. Tasteful, restrained Baroque, full of light.

With hours to go before our flight, we decided to stop off at the Grotta di Castellana. This is a well-known cave, the largest in the area. Some German tourists told us early in the trip that it wasn't so special, so we really hadn't planned to go there. But the heat was wilting and the idea of escaping it for a while underground didn't sound bad. It was necessary to take a guided tour; there were two options, a one-hour tour and a three-hour tour. We didn't have the time for the three-hour tour. The one-hour tour (which was really only about 45 minutes) was spectacular - quite apart from the pleasant coolness in the caverns (about 61°), the caverns were of majestic beauty. Photography was not allowed, so to get an idea follow the link above or this site.

After this visit it was time to head to the Bari airport, where we needed to return our rental car by 6 PM. Everything went fine there, our flight was slightly late (practically every other flight from Bari was massively late), but on the whole nothing to complain about.