Alberobello

As Thibault had only four days holiday, our plan was to pick up the hire car and do a daytrip from Bari on the Sunday, and then Thibault would work Monday while I pottered around to city. 

Now if you are visiting Puglia the number one touristy thing to do is see the trulli houses, little converted storehouses in the region, but principally centred upon the little town of Alberobello, a UNESCO world heritage site.

These peculiar houses arose out of an edict that the villagers had to build their homes without mortar. And the best way they found to do this was to build round houses topped by stone domed roofs. The effect is to produce what would be hobbit homes if Lord of the Rings was set in the sunny Mediterranean.

So we drove up there, found a large car park and wandered in. The belkow photos do not reflect reality. They are very carefully edited to snatch shots without tourists. This is a mecca for coach tourists, and many of the trulli have been converted into tacky gift shops.

However, we managed to find a sophisticated hotel in which to eat what was possibly the best lunch we had all holiday. Certainly with the best wine.

Replete we went back amongst the houses and then onto a trek. At this juncture I should explain that Thibault wanted to do some hiking but was frustrated by a lack of good guides. So he had bought a guide to walks in Puglia in German. Germans like hiking, and apparently descend on the area. We came across a lot soaking up the late summer sun.

So, leaving the town behind we followed this walk in Thibault's German guidebook, promising olive groves, trulli houses and dry stone walls. Unfortunately after an hour or so I think it was fair to say we had got bored of the above three elements. Worse still, the walking book took us through three sorts of terrain. One was the country roads with no pavements, although fortunately not much frequented by cars. The second, which may be some of the fault in interpreting the guidebook, took us into fields where there was frankly no path. It did give us a first hand impression of how incredibly stony the farmland is.(Yes, basically we got lost.)

The third should have been the nicest - an old shepherd's path - no cars, a clear track and fruit trees on either side. Should have been. Were it not for the brambles, flies and mosquitoes. More a case of running the gauntlet.

View from the highest point on the walk

 Many of these peasant trulli dwellings have been bought up by wealthy Italians, combined and extended, and in this case with a swimming pool added to the back.

 After getting lost in the fields we resurfaced at this country hotel. Although the red building below was not really part of the hotel. It is in the grounds but is a picturesque ruin. Major conservation job required to get this back into habitable condition.

So much for Alberobello. We had to dash back to Bari because our secure 24 hour parking was only 24 hours Monday to Saturday. On Sunday it was only open 1-6pm so we had to get back in time for curfew.

the good news is we found the garage at quarter to six. Phew! The bad news? it was already shut. This, as we soon came to realise, is Southern Italian time. A very flexible concept. Thibault somehow managed to navigate us to another garage that was open. My hero.

Now also at this stage I should mention something about parking in Bari. There is free street parking everywhere. But your chances of finding a spare space are akin to winning the lottery. And don't imagine there are any rules about not parking too close to a corner. They park right on the bend. And on zebra crossings. And do double parking. Essentially parking is horrendous.

But parked up we wandered into the old town for an aperitif and then dinner. One point about this part of Italy is that they eat very late. Many restaurants don't even open until 8. And as we discovered, if you find one that says it is open at say, 7:30 rather than 8, you turn up at 7:30 to be asked to wait a few minutes. About 30....

We found this little alley of almost nothing but bars and restaurants. It was very nice. A few drinks were had. Obviously one should be drinking the fine wines. But after a day of hiking followed by stressful parking, well a beer (or two) seemed in order. And a German beer at that. Ah well, there is only so local you need to get, and Germans do good lagers...