This was our last day near Polignano a Mare, we wanted to have a quiet day. In the morning we drove to Gioia del Colle, a town of 27,000 to our southwest. It's a charming town with an impressive castello,
built by Frederick the II around 1230. Otherwise there wasn't all that much to see, after a cappuccino we returned to Il Casale dei Fornici and spent the afternoon swimming, reading and jogging. We went to Polignano for dinner, and had an excellent pizza al fresco near the church in the old town. They were putting up what looked like a theatrical stage, it turned out to be part of the preparations for the weekend festivities honoring S. Vito Martire.
On our return to the albergo we noticed with horror that preparations for a party were underway - buffet tables were being set up around the swimming pool, a sound system was installed. It was 9:30 PM! At first I thought it must be for the next day, but Anja thought we should ask to be safe. Yes indeed, there was to be a wedding post-function, but not to worry, it should end by 2 AM! We worried, and expressed our displeasure. Unfortunately the owner of the Casale wasn't there yet, none of the employees present had the authority to decide anything. Of course they couldn't cancel the party, but we expected them to at least find us other accomodations. Finally a phone call was made, a room was found in a B&B up the road. We were extremely angry - they could have told us at breakfast that a party was on for the night, and offered then to move us. Il Casale dei Fornici earns primarily from receptions and parties, the few hotel guests almost seem to be an irritation to them. Certainly the owner seemed to see it that way. We definitely would not recommend this place to anyone!
So at about 10:30 PM we packed everything together (the party hadn't even started yet!) and drove about 2 km to Le Vigne, which proved to be a small, you might say "classical" B&B with a very friendly owner. The night was quiet - we had our best night's sleep up to now. And she served us the best breakfast we had our entire vacation.
Il Casale dei Fornici remains a bad memory.
built by Frederick the II around 1230. Otherwise there wasn't all that much to see, after a cappuccino we returned to Il Casale dei Fornici and spent the afternoon swimming, reading and jogging. We went to Polignano for dinner, and had an excellent pizza al fresco near the church in the old town. They were putting up what looked like a theatrical stage, it turned out to be part of the preparations for the weekend festivities honoring S. Vito Martire.
On our return to the albergo we noticed with horror that preparations for a party were underway - buffet tables were being set up around the swimming pool, a sound system was installed. It was 9:30 PM! At first I thought it must be for the next day, but Anja thought we should ask to be safe. Yes indeed, there was to be a wedding post-function, but not to worry, it should end by 2 AM! We worried, and expressed our displeasure. Unfortunately the owner of the Casale wasn't there yet, none of the employees present had the authority to decide anything. Of course they couldn't cancel the party, but we expected them to at least find us other accomodations. Finally a phone call was made, a room was found in a B&B up the road. We were extremely angry - they could have told us at breakfast that a party was on for the night, and offered then to move us. Il Casale dei Fornici earns primarily from receptions and parties, the few hotel guests almost seem to be an irritation to them. Certainly the owner seemed to see it that way. We definitely would not recommend this place to anyone!
So at about 10:30 PM we packed everything together (the party hadn't even started yet!) and drove about 2 km to Le Vigne, which proved to be a small, you might say "classical" B&B with a very friendly owner. The night was quiet - we had our best night's sleep up to now. And she served us the best breakfast we had our entire vacation.
Il Casale dei Fornici remains a bad memory.
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