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of Il Gallo felice - a pretty but small room, beautiful garden, good breakfast, but the host was rather strangely withdrawn.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 caff

On our last full day here, I wanted to do something more outdoorsy, despite the threatened heat. One highlight we had missed was the archaeological excavation at Egnazia near Monopoli , a city with Bronze Age roots that ceased to exist in the Middle Ages after being sacked by a variety of enemies. The site consists of a museum, the necropolis with graves from the Bronze Age up till Roman times: and the partially excavated Roman and early Christian era city. Especially amusing was the sign in one corner of the park to the effect that snake repellent had been applied, but visitors should be careful nonetheless. We didn't see a snake, but dozens of lizards. To recover from the heat we looked for a beach along the coast, a few hundred meters away. Here we relaxed for most of the afternoon before heading back to the Gallo to get cleaned up for a 'fancy' dinner at Ciacco , a restaurant highly praised in our travel guide. On my second snorkel of the day I saw a good-sized

I started this day with a somewhat upset stomach; Anja was feeling just fine, although we ate exactly the same thing the night before. Perhaps one of my clams or mussels was past its sell-by date, or maybe it was the water in our B & B, which had a strange, oily smell. In any case we drank only bottled water for the remainder of our stay at the Gallo Felice. After I decided I wasn't going to die, we drove to Ostuni , a town of about 32,000 quite close to Martina Franca. Like most of the towns here, it has a long an illustrious history. Today it is known as "The white city", the reason for which is apparent as one approaches from any direction (see the photo on my previous post). We found a place to park for a modest fee in the newer part of town, and headed on foot to the old town. We found the old town quickly and without difficulty, arriving at the square near the town hall with a spectacular statue of the patron saint, San Oronzo: After a cappuccino we got rea

Writing this in Munich, where it's been raining all day and the temperature is only 55° at 3:30 PM, really brings home how great this vacation was! On Sunday, June 14th we took leave of Conca Marco; grandmother Palumbo, who runs the place with three of her sons, was very kind. We very much enjoyed the stay at the Villa Conca Marco; the only thing we'd complain about was the mattress, which was hard as granite. We slept OK, but every night had the feeling as we slept (and woke) that our backs were slowly cramping. Off to Martina Franca ! The drive took about one and a half hours; my Tom-Tom didn't find the best route. Along the way we were rewarded with a spectacular view of Ostuni, which we would visit the following day. Finding the B & B ( Il Gallo felice) was a bit hard; it was located on a local road to the southwest of the town, and there wasn't a sign or anything. But find it we did, and the room was quite nice, if rather small. But our room was actu

Today was pretty much a lazy day, as I indicated in the previous post we were starting to get worn out with sightseeing. We went to the beach in the morning, but there was a cool, stiff northeast wind and it was so choppy that we didn't even go into the water. The kitesurfers were having a great time, though, and we enjoyed watching them. Around five we drove back to Otranto , where we were determined to have dinner in the pizzeria mentioned in a previous post (bet you thought I forgot). At 7 PM we were the first patrons, but it quickly filled up, mostly with Italians (always a good sign). We both ordered a green salad and a pizza. The pizzas were very cheap, around 5-6 €. We noticed that others were ordering a half pizza; the reason became clear when our pizzas came; they were enormous, but delicious. I stupidly insisted on finishing mine, which I paid for with a very full stomach that made it difficult to get to sleep later. By the way, searching diligently we found a bookstor

OK, I'll keep this one relatively brief. At this point in the trip we were starting to get overwhelmed by the many delightful towns and villages in remote southeastern Italy. Today we drove to Gallipoli , a coastal town of about 20,000 to the west of Lecce . I have no idea if the name has anything to do with the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey, site of an infamous campaign in World War I. I'll leave that as an exercise for the savvy reader (please report back if you learn anything). Gallipoli is yet another BST (Beautiful Seaport Town), as you can see here: The town is on a narrow peninsula, and has the typical narrow alleys of all these BSTs . So narrow in fact, that it was impossible to get a decent photo of the facade of the cathedral: We were especially impressed by the facades of many houses here, not only the typical variations on white, there were many colorful buildings: After our picnic lunch, custom made in a butcher shop, we headed back east via Lecce .

The day began at the beach, but it was windy, the surf was up, and snorkeling wasn't possible. After a shower back at the ranch we drove a half hour down the coast to the wonderful historic town Otranto . The town has a natural harbor that was used by early Greek seafarers, around 700 B.C. they founded the town Hydrus here, which later under the Romans was called Hydruntum. I guess you can see how Hydruntum became Otranto; it helps if you pronounce both as if you had your mouth full. As usual in those parts, the town passed through many hands in the course of the centuries. In 1480 an event happened which left its mark on Otranto's history like the Chicago fire or the San Francisco earthquake. The town was attacked by a Turkish fleet with 90 galleys, 40 cargo ships and 18,000 soldiers. After a two-week siege Otranto was captured. 800 men who had fled to the cathedral and refused to convert to Islam were beheaded. That's all far in the past, but I'll show you a few thing

Well, if I'm going to finish this travelogue before our next ski vacation I'd better get cracking. On the other hand, I know Goethe didn't publish his experiences travelling in Italy on the next day (seems like almost every little town in Northern Italy has a sign saying "Goethe slept here"). But I digress. What was going on back in Puglia? On our first morning way in the south of Puglia we drove to Lecce after a simple breakfast (the usual croissant and cappuccino). I picked a location on the edge of the old town that was supposed to have ample parking, and my TomTom took us there reliably. It was another hot day, unfortunately the parking lot didn't have any shade. Oh well, at least it was cheap and gave the impression that no one would be breaking into cars there. Of course, we didn't leave anything in the car! Lecce is worth a trip. A city of about 100,000 inhabitants, and the capital of the eponymous province. It's history goes back into pre-R