On to Puglia

We arrived in Rome and picked up the rental car and set out for Sant' Agata di Puglia where we had reservations at an agriturismo near the town. The drive was to take about 3-4 hours and off we went with Ms. GPS leading the way. The "Auto Grill" on the autostrada provided our first meal in mainland Italy and it was surprisingly good......a decent salad and a pasta with tuna sauce that I'll make when I come home. We got off the freeway as directed about 3+ hours into the drive into a totally surreal landscape of acres upon acres of recently plowed agricultural fields with almost nothing growing anywhere and very few trees. It was an area of rolling hills with HUNDREDS of wind turbines! Supposedly, our place was 11 km off the freeway but we drove what seemed like an endless back road with no sign of life. The town of Sant' Agata di Puglia was perched prettily on the top of a hill with nothing else visible for the miles and miles we could see. Our Lonely Planet had told us there was no lodging in Sant' Agata so.........we bailed. Just couldn't face staying in a place that was so NOWHERE (not to mention that we hadn't yet found it after roughly a half hour of following Ms. GPS directions further and further into NOWHERE.)

Then began the task of trying to find lodging......turned out it was NOT an easy task. Ms. GPS was minimal help but ultimately found a hotel outside Foggia, a main northern Puglia city. It was basic at best but had internet access that allowed us to find a more permanent agriturismo for the next three days.

We checked into our new place the next morning and went off to check out a couple of nearby towns, Lucero and Troia. Both were charming and with interesting sites including a castle built in the 1200's that we wandered through. Here's a pic of it. It was a nice relaxing day spent meandering around seeing the local churches, having a late afternoon snack in a bar then dinner back at our agriturismo.

The next day we went to the Gargano Peninsula, an area with great twisty mountain roads high above the ocean and also some beautiful beaches. It also has a one of Italy's biggest national parks inland. We drove through the park in some of the densest forest we have ever seen. Lunch was a real experience! There is an ancient form of fishing using a device called a "trabucco" which is a wood frame that holds a large net submerged in the water. A watchman is posted to watch for fish to swim into the net in schools and the net is pulled up. The water is very clear so apparently this is an effective way to fish and there are still people who use the device. There is a restaurant built next to a trabucco that is reputed to have fabulous seafood so thats where we stopped to have lunch. And it was true....the food was fabulous....fresh and delicious. We had linguine with clams, grilled seppia (cuttlefish) and a very traditional Puglian dish of dried fava beans with chicory. Also had a terrific bottle of wine produced locally from a grape called bombino. Here's a picture of the trabucco.

We celebrated Halloween by driving to southern Puglia, stopping on the way in Lecce for lunch at a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet . Good call.....great lunch overlooking the Lecce street scene and on to our new digs in Copertino a few miles from Lecce. This place is more urban but not in the center of town. It's a nice comfy place in what has probably been a large home in the past and a convenient place for exploring the southern end of Puglia.

Nov 1 is All Saint's Day and a national holiday so things are closed but lots of people out and about taking advantage of the holiday. We went to Galatina where there is a basilica that is totally covered inside with frescoes. It's really an amazing site. No photos are allowed so I have to try and preserve that memory. Galatina is a small town with about 6 big churches (all catholic of course) so we went to a mass in one of the big churches so I could hear some music. Mass wasn't celebrated in the basilica, unfortunately. Also checked out Gallipoli, an old port town then drove along the southwest coast where we stopped and had some more really good seafood at a place on the beach.

Today we drove the remainder of the southwest coast to Santa Maria di Leuca, the point at the bottom of Italy's heel and the place where the Ionian and the Adriatic seas meet. The weather was pretty unsettled and VERY windy and the waves were ferocious looking. Had a late lunch in Lecce and I FINALLY had my VERY FIRST gelato of the trip! By the time we got home the weather had really turned bad and it has been pouring since.