Lord and Lady Snooty's European Wanders in a MB SLK
- Thread starter Lord Snooty
- Start date
We're back
And we are back in the room. Sorry for the radio blackout guys but Puglia is a bit of a Wi-Fi backwater.
We arrived at my cousin's in Pulsano without drama, alhtough the A14 had a lot of roadworks and contraflows we still made decent progress and arrived about 14.30. The villa does not yet have Wi-Fi although fibre to the kerb is installed, not yet fibre to the home, they home to get it installed in the next couple of weeks. None of the bars, cafes, restaurants have Wi-Fi, they are a bit old-fashioned and expect people to converse and engage with their friends when socialising, who knew eh, maybe it will catch on in the UK.
We are just 300 meters from the sea, a beautiful little sheltered bay, perfect for swimming, but not just yet. Things are cheap here, for example, four coffees and four cakes in a cafe cost just 10 euros; a meal out for four cost just 64 euros for beers, large glass of white, starters and four pizzas. Yesterday, Sunday lunch, 1.5 litres of red wine, starters for all, main courses and desserts - just 85 Euros. You can buy wine straight from the vat for just 1.40 a litre. Oranges are just a euro for a kilo and so on. You can live well here for not a lot.
For three days running we had lunch al fresco on the patio in 16C, the patio is a sun trap and walled so it was pleasantly warm. Sue and Franco's routine is for a light breakfast, then we go into town to a cafe for coffee and cake (the cafes are beautiful inside - all marble tiles and decor) the selection of cakes made onsite is out of this world. We then have a large lunch, with wine, followed by a siesta and dinner is light with bread, olives, ham, salami etc with more wine and/or beers. I am doing my best at becoming an Italian by going with the flow
The villa is chilly in the evening though, there is no central heating and they are built for warm weather.
A few more observations on Italian driving:
When parking in town, just abandon the car at 90 degrees to the pavement with the arse end sticking out, that is perfectly acceptable. When emerging from a junction on the left or right just give the merest of glances to and pull out anyway. Using your mobile phone while driving is the height of fashion and the tailgating and overtaking in 30 limits is still the norm!
Franco was born in Puglia but moved to Redditch at a young age, married my cousin Sue before returning to Italy but he considers himself a Brit first and foremost so it is quite amusing hearing him ranting and raving about the Italian driving habits. Another thing he rants about is the amount of rubbish that gets dumped by the roadsides; the rubbish collections are daily, yes, daily, one day for organic, one day for plastics etc and they have a large recycling facility in town that is free to use yet there seems to be no respect for the environment and every day sees fresh rubbish dumped, the council clean it up and then a day or so later it is just as bad. Franco does his nut at it.
Just to give you a smidgen of schadenfreude, the weather has taken a turn for the worse and the double figure temps we enjoyed have dropped to single figures with a pretty savage north wind. This morning we woke up to 4C and snow flurries - yikes. Franco says he has never know anything like it.
We are no on our travels again as we are doing a mini-tour of the Puglia peninsular; today we headed SE along the coast road, as we go beyond Galipoli (yes you read that right) the coast road became higher and twistier with loads of bends and some hairpins. The sea and cliff views were fantastic, the sea is a mixture of azure and turquoise in colour. It is obvious much of this coastline is dependent on tourism given the amount of hotels, bars and restaurants we went past - all closed and the small towns and villages we went through were mostly devoid of traffic. The sky had cleared and we had bright sunshine but only 6 C and the biting wind was omnipresent.
We are now in Otranto for the night, it has a magnificent Basilica with the bodies of 800 martyrs entombed within and a fabulous mosaic floor and many medieval frescos on the wall. Very close by is the Arogonese Castle. The sea was pounding into the shore with the high winds.
Tomorrow we head for Lecce with its Cathedral and Roman Ampitheatre and then onwards for two nights in the white city of Ostuni and it's historic centre.
Sorry no stats, I forgot to record them before leaving the car but we are well over 1500 miles since leaving home and the car continues to return over 50mpg without any range anxiety, EVs pah!
And we are back in the room. Sorry for the radio blackout guys but Puglia is a bit of a Wi-Fi backwater.
We arrived at my cousin's in Pulsano without drama, alhtough the A14 had a lot of roadworks and contraflows we still made decent progress and arrived about 14.30. The villa does not yet have Wi-Fi although fibre to the kerb is installed, not yet fibre to the home, they home to get it installed in the next couple of weeks. None of the bars, cafes, restaurants have Wi-Fi, they are a bit old-fashioned and expect people to converse and engage with their friends when socialising, who knew eh, maybe it will catch on in the UK.
We are just 300 meters from the sea, a beautiful little sheltered bay, perfect for swimming, but not just yet. Things are cheap here, for example, four coffees and four cakes in a cafe cost just 10 euros; a meal out for four cost just 64 euros for beers, large glass of white, starters and four pizzas. Yesterday, Sunday lunch, 1.5 litres of red wine, starters for all, main courses and desserts - just 85 Euros. You can buy wine straight from the vat for just 1.40 a litre. Oranges are just a euro for a kilo and so on. You can live well here for not a lot.
For three days running we had lunch al fresco on the patio in 16C, the patio is a sun trap and walled so it was pleasantly warm. Sue and Franco's routine is for a light breakfast, then we go into town to a cafe for coffee and cake (the cafes are beautiful inside - all marble tiles and decor) the selection of cakes made onsite is out of this world. We then have a large lunch, with wine, followed by a siesta and dinner is light with bread, olives, ham, salami etc with more wine and/or beers. I am doing my best at becoming an Italian by going with the flow
The villa is chilly in the evening though, there is no central heating and they are built for warm weather.
A few more observations on Italian driving:
When parking in town, just abandon the car at 90 degrees to the pavement with the arse end sticking out, that is perfectly acceptable. When emerging from a junction on the left or right just give the merest of glances to and pull out anyway. Using your mobile phone while driving is the height of fashion and the tailgating and overtaking in 30 limits is still the norm!
Franco was born in Puglia but moved to Redditch at a young age, married my cousin Sue before returning to Italy but he considers himself a Brit first and foremost so it is quite amusing hearing him ranting and raving about the Italian driving habits. Another thing he rants about is the amount of rubbish that gets dumped by the roadsides; the rubbish collections are daily, yes, daily, one day for organic, one day for plastics etc and they have a large recycling facility in town that is free to use yet there seems to be no respect for the environment and every day sees fresh rubbish dumped, the council clean it up and then a day or so later it is just as bad. Franco does his nut at it.
Just to give you a smidgen of schadenfreude, the weather has taken a turn for the worse and the double figure temps we enjoyed have dropped to single figures with a pretty savage north wind. This morning we woke up to 4C and snow flurries - yikes. Franco says he has never know anything like it.
We are no on our travels again as we are doing a mini-tour of the Puglia peninsular; today we headed SE along the coast road, as we go beyond Galipoli (yes you read that right) the coast road became higher and twistier with loads of bends and some hairpins. The sea and cliff views were fantastic, the sea is a mixture of azure and turquoise in colour. It is obvious much of this coastline is dependent on tourism given the amount of hotels, bars and restaurants we went past - all closed and the small towns and villages we went through were mostly devoid of traffic. The sky had cleared and we had bright sunshine but only 6 C and the biting wind was omnipresent.
We are now in Otranto for the night, it has a magnificent Basilica with the bodies of 800 martyrs entombed within and a fabulous mosaic floor and many medieval frescos on the wall. Very close by is the Arogonese Castle. The sea was pounding into the shore with the high winds.
Tomorrow we head for Lecce with its Cathedral and Roman Ampitheatre and then onwards for two nights in the white city of Ostuni and it's historic centre.
Sorry no stats, I forgot to record them before leaving the car but we are well over 1500 miles since leaving home and the car continues to return over 50mpg without any range anxiety, EVs pah!
Attachments
Superb.
Puglia Tour day 2
Day 2 of our mini-tour of the peninsula.
Now did I mention that I decided for the first time to us AirBnB places rather than hotels found using Trivago, Booking.com etc. I have made a point of booking self-contained apartments specifying Wi-Fi, parking and a kitchen. So far, I have been very impressed with the quality, the uniqueness and the price and we both love having the benefit of a kitchen for making our own meals and not having to go out walking into towns looking for restaurants. It is working out well so far, the contact from the owners via the AirBnB app or WhatsApp is excellent and they are always on tap for any minor problems. Parking tends to be on street and so far we have been lucky in being able to get a spot pretty close to the accommodation. LAst night's place in Otranto had a stone vaulted roof, almost as if it had been built into the rock.
As we are visiting several very old towns and cities the streets in the historic centres tend to be narrow and in some cases cobbled, they were no designed with cars in mind so there are a lot of one way systems as there is just no room for two cars to pass safely. Our place in Otranto was up a steep hill on a left turn from the main drag and the place was at the top at the T junction - very tight and narrow, I stopped outside the door to drop the bags off and before we had done that a car came up the hill wanting to turn so I had to shift the car to let him pass, nobody gets out of shape though, it is obviously the way of life and everybody is relaxed about it. I managed to find a space back down the hill about 40 metres away so this morning we just carried the bags to the car. Because of the proximity of the buildings the Garmin and the car satnav both struggled to pick up the satellites so I just headed off in generally the right direction out of town, I just kept the sea on my right, until I found a spot to pull in and let the satnavs lock on.
We left Otranto about 11am, no rush today as we were only doing about 80 miles. We headed up the S60 (I thinnk) which is marked as a green scenic road but sadly we were not on it tool long when at a roundabout we were unable to continue on it as the exit was blocked. This has happened a few times since we got here and they do not provide diversion signs which is a pain. I just guessed and took an exit and because I had set a waypoint on the S60 the Garmin kept recalculating and telling me to make a U turn. I switched it off and after about 20 minutes turned it back on and it finally recalculated and got us to follow the road ahead eventually getting us back on the coastal route. It added about 10 miles on the route.
First stop today was the very old Roman city of Lecce - we passed through the more modern outer city and soon the roads and buildings took a dramatic change. The roads became narrower and the architecture was stunning showing styles from over the centuries, some utterly beautiful buildings with imposing facades and stonework. I managed to park up very close to the ampitheatre, illegally I reckon - oops! We were just a few seconds walk from the arena, sadly we could not get into it due to restoration works but we still had a great view so we snapped away. There was plenty of other edifices to wonder at and we obviously only just scratched the surface, Alena managed to get a free leaflet with lost of the sights on it as a souvenir. Thankfully the car had not been towed and no ticket! We started the tricky job of extricating ourselves from the narrow, windy streets passing through archways and past many of the monuments so I pulled in on a couple of occasions in a plaza and let her ladyship point and shoot. Amazingly we made our way out onto the road to Brindisi without putting a wheel wrong. If you are ever in this part of the world then I cannot recommend Lecce enough.
We were now heading NW to our stopover for two nights in Ostuni, known as the White City. As we approached it from a couple of miles out we could see it gleaming in the sunlight on a hill as it overlooked the coastline and countryside, it looked most imposing. Our place is just outside the historic centre but nonetheless is in an old part of the city with the requisite narrow roads and one way systems to prevent gridlock. I slightly overshot our turn right, luckily I was in a plaza so I pulled in an her ladyship went down to look for the digs, she found it and after a couple of right turns around the block we were able to park up on a street again within easy walking distance. There was absolutely no parking on the actual apartment street. The keys were in a keybox on the wall and Antonella, the hostess, had sent us the code by WhatsApp, we were in and happily the heating had been on as it was quite bitter outside, only 6-8C but with a biting wind. This place is about twice the size of yesterday's and has a very large bedroom with a bath in it and a separate wet room with shower, bidet and loo. After dumping our gear and having a bit of lunch we headed for the old centre which was an easy 10-15 minute walk. I have a few photos and will try and take a few more before we leave.
Tomorrow, we head for Alborobello which is a UNESCO World Heritage site with unique Trulli houses and then onwards to Castellana Grotte which has many cave systems. The map shows a green scenic route heading west out of Ostuni towards Alborobello and then north to Castellana before swing back east to Ostuni.
Some pics
Day 2 of our mini-tour of the peninsula.
Now did I mention that I decided for the first time to us AirBnB places rather than hotels found using Trivago, Booking.com etc. I have made a point of booking self-contained apartments specifying Wi-Fi, parking and a kitchen. So far, I have been very impressed with the quality, the uniqueness and the price and we both love having the benefit of a kitchen for making our own meals and not having to go out walking into towns looking for restaurants. It is working out well so far, the contact from the owners via the AirBnB app or WhatsApp is excellent and they are always on tap for any minor problems. Parking tends to be on street and so far we have been lucky in being able to get a spot pretty close to the accommodation. LAst night's place in Otranto had a stone vaulted roof, almost as if it had been built into the rock.
As we are visiting several very old towns and cities the streets in the historic centres tend to be narrow and in some cases cobbled, they were no designed with cars in mind so there are a lot of one way systems as there is just no room for two cars to pass safely. Our place in Otranto was up a steep hill on a left turn from the main drag and the place was at the top at the T junction - very tight and narrow, I stopped outside the door to drop the bags off and before we had done that a car came up the hill wanting to turn so I had to shift the car to let him pass, nobody gets out of shape though, it is obviously the way of life and everybody is relaxed about it. I managed to find a space back down the hill about 40 metres away so this morning we just carried the bags to the car. Because of the proximity of the buildings the Garmin and the car satnav both struggled to pick up the satellites so I just headed off in generally the right direction out of town, I just kept the sea on my right, until I found a spot to pull in and let the satnavs lock on.
We left Otranto about 11am, no rush today as we were only doing about 80 miles. We headed up the S60 (I thinnk) which is marked as a green scenic road but sadly we were not on it tool long when at a roundabout we were unable to continue on it as the exit was blocked. This has happened a few times since we got here and they do not provide diversion signs which is a pain. I just guessed and took an exit and because I had set a waypoint on the S60 the Garmin kept recalculating and telling me to make a U turn. I switched it off and after about 20 minutes turned it back on and it finally recalculated and got us to follow the road ahead eventually getting us back on the coastal route. It added about 10 miles on the route.
First stop today was the very old Roman city of Lecce - we passed through the more modern outer city and soon the roads and buildings took a dramatic change. The roads became narrower and the architecture was stunning showing styles from over the centuries, some utterly beautiful buildings with imposing facades and stonework. I managed to park up very close to the ampitheatre, illegally I reckon - oops! We were just a few seconds walk from the arena, sadly we could not get into it due to restoration works but we still had a great view so we snapped away. There was plenty of other edifices to wonder at and we obviously only just scratched the surface, Alena managed to get a free leaflet with lost of the sights on it as a souvenir. Thankfully the car had not been towed and no ticket! We started the tricky job of extricating ourselves from the narrow, windy streets passing through archways and past many of the monuments so I pulled in on a couple of occasions in a plaza and let her ladyship point and shoot. Amazingly we made our way out onto the road to Brindisi without putting a wheel wrong. If you are ever in this part of the world then I cannot recommend Lecce enough.
We were now heading NW to our stopover for two nights in Ostuni, known as the White City. As we approached it from a couple of miles out we could see it gleaming in the sunlight on a hill as it overlooked the coastline and countryside, it looked most imposing. Our place is just outside the historic centre but nonetheless is in an old part of the city with the requisite narrow roads and one way systems to prevent gridlock. I slightly overshot our turn right, luckily I was in a plaza so I pulled in an her ladyship went down to look for the digs, she found it and after a couple of right turns around the block we were able to park up on a street again within easy walking distance. There was absolutely no parking on the actual apartment street. The keys were in a keybox on the wall and Antonella, the hostess, had sent us the code by WhatsApp, we were in and happily the heating had been on as it was quite bitter outside, only 6-8C but with a biting wind. This place is about twice the size of yesterday's and has a very large bedroom with a bath in it and a separate wet room with shower, bidet and loo. After dumping our gear and having a bit of lunch we headed for the old centre which was an easy 10-15 minute walk. I have a few photos and will try and take a few more before we leave.
Tomorrow, we head for Alborobello which is a UNESCO World Heritage site with unique Trulli houses and then onwards to Castellana Grotte which has many cave systems. The map shows a green scenic route heading west out of Ostuni towards Alborobello and then north to Castellana before swing back east to Ostuni.
Some pics
Attachments
Fabulous and thanks, really enjoying this . 
Second day in Ostuni, today's plan was to go to Alborobello, A UNESCO heritage site with the unique Trulli houses, strange dome like buildings. You see a lot of similar buildings in the fields, they look very pyramid like and are used for storage and for shelter for the farm workers for eating and escape from any bad weather. They are a bit crude in construction but the Trulli houses in Alborobello are all occupied and many of them are shops and bars or other types of businesses. There are a lot of them on the route but nowhere else do you get such a concentration in a small location. To be honest ii is a bit touristy with shops selling souvenir tat but I guess like anybody else would they are just taking advantage of the bounty that tourism brings and are just making a living. We arrived in a car park on the other side of the road from the Trulli village with loads of free spaces, it was pay and display, I could not make head nor tail of the instructions so i didn't bother and took a chance - more on parking misdemeanours later
There had obviously been an overnight snowfall as there were remnants in the car park and on the domed roofs, it was only about 5C. Off we trotted to explore this fascinating architecture. As you can imagine the streets were very narrow for the most part, the occasional car meandered it's way past the tourists wandering around the streets in an aimless way as we do. I would not like to take our car into the village as I would be sure to get stuck in an impossible turning manoeuvre but the locals know best. I snapped away and some of the rooves have strange symbols on them, the meanings must go back into the mists of time. One benefit of being here in Wintertime is the lack of crowds, I bet this place is rammed in peak season.
We found the church and went in, it never ceases to amaze me at the wealth, ostentation, opulence and vast amounts of money that has been thrown at RC churches. The sheer interior grandeur of even the smallest of village churches is something to behold. We always make a point of visiting cathedrals and churches to reflect on the ambition and belief that drove people to build them but also to consider the hypocrisy of an institution that professes to follow the teachings of a man who eschewed all material possessions and preached humility but has spent much of its existence in relentless pursuit of wealth and gold and resides it's bishops in gilt lined palaces. Anyway, I don't want this to become another discussion on the nature of theism so let's move on. Having avoided being persuaded to invest in some tourist tat we headed onwards.
Back to the car park and I noticed what appeared to be a parking warden checking cars on the road so we did one before he got to the car park. Off we headed in a northwards direction towards Castellana Grotte, it was only a 10 mile drive. It was pretty obvious when we arrived that the cave system which is 3.2km in length was shut, probably as it is Winter. We wandered around the buildings and grounds but everything was boarded up - so you will have to do what I had to do and make do with a pic of the sign board which has pictures of the various grottos. We will return in March and hopefully it will be re-opened.
We headed back to Ostuni on a green scenic route, the sun was out and bathing the cabin in a glowing warmth, the road was good and twisty and reached a reasonable elevation to give us an excellent view over the surrounding countryside and the sea in the distance.
I have one more Italian driving rule to add to my growing list - solid white lines in the centre of the road are an invitation to carry out an overtake.
Back at Ostuni I managed to park the car in a street just off our apartment in exactly the same position as yesterday, my luck was in - or so I thought,
A quick bite of lunch and we headed back to the old city for a really good wander around. It is a maze of narrow alleys, archways and steps, quite beguiling and mesmerising in many ways. I did reflect on the fact that it must be a nightmare to move house here as there is no way you can get a removal truck in here and the furniture would have to be man-handled up the many steps and paths. I wouldn't want to be doing Amazon deliveries here either. The sheer number of bars, restaurants, trattoria, bistros and hotels is quite staggering - again, as a tourist you have no way of getting your car up to your hotel so I guess you park on the perimeters and lug your luggage up the pathways.
Having satisfied our curiosity and need for badly framed and out of focus photography we headed back for a brew. About 19.00 there is a knock on the door - eh what? I opened it to find two fresh faced local rozzers there; they asked if I owned a Mercedes, er yes officer. Then you must come with us, you are illegally parked and you have a ticket and if it is not moved it will be towed away - ulp! I threw on my shoes and a jacket and grabbed the keys. Round the corner and there was their 4x4 parked in front of the Merc with blue lights flashing away. They dealt with the paperwork first, gave me the ticket and told me I can pay it at a local tobacconists - go figure. He explained the process and then asked if I would like to follow them and he would show me where I could park legally which I thought was very decent of them, I did apologise and shake their hands though, I wanted to make sure I passed the attitude test and get them onside. They were very friendly and amiable throughout, I curse myself for forgetting to take pics of them and the scene - damn! I followed them and they pointed out the parking area and waited for me to find a space and then gave me a wave and a thumbs up and they were away. i have no idea how they tracked us down to our apartment though, I guess that's why they are police it's what they do and I think we are probably the only English tourists in town.
We leave tomorrow but my first job will be to go and find a tobacconist to pay my dues. I feel like a hardened mafioso.
Now for the pics.
There had obviously been an overnight snowfall as there were remnants in the car park and on the domed roofs, it was only about 5C. Off we trotted to explore this fascinating architecture. As you can imagine the streets were very narrow for the most part, the occasional car meandered it's way past the tourists wandering around the streets in an aimless way as we do. I would not like to take our car into the village as I would be sure to get stuck in an impossible turning manoeuvre but the locals know best. I snapped away and some of the rooves have strange symbols on them, the meanings must go back into the mists of time. One benefit of being here in Wintertime is the lack of crowds, I bet this place is rammed in peak season.
We found the church and went in, it never ceases to amaze me at the wealth, ostentation, opulence and vast amounts of money that has been thrown at RC churches. The sheer interior grandeur of even the smallest of village churches is something to behold. We always make a point of visiting cathedrals and churches to reflect on the ambition and belief that drove people to build them but also to consider the hypocrisy of an institution that professes to follow the teachings of a man who eschewed all material possessions and preached humility but has spent much of its existence in relentless pursuit of wealth and gold and resides it's bishops in gilt lined palaces. Anyway, I don't want this to become another discussion on the nature of theism so let's move on. Having avoided being persuaded to invest in some tourist tat we headed onwards.
Back to the car park and I noticed what appeared to be a parking warden checking cars on the road so we did one before he got to the car park. Off we headed in a northwards direction towards Castellana Grotte, it was only a 10 mile drive. It was pretty obvious when we arrived that the cave system which is 3.2km in length was shut, probably as it is Winter. We wandered around the buildings and grounds but everything was boarded up - so you will have to do what I had to do and make do with a pic of the sign board which has pictures of the various grottos. We will return in March and hopefully it will be re-opened.
We headed back to Ostuni on a green scenic route, the sun was out and bathing the cabin in a glowing warmth, the road was good and twisty and reached a reasonable elevation to give us an excellent view over the surrounding countryside and the sea in the distance.
I have one more Italian driving rule to add to my growing list - solid white lines in the centre of the road are an invitation to carry out an overtake.
Back at Ostuni I managed to park the car in a street just off our apartment in exactly the same position as yesterday, my luck was in - or so I thought,
A quick bite of lunch and we headed back to the old city for a really good wander around. It is a maze of narrow alleys, archways and steps, quite beguiling and mesmerising in many ways. I did reflect on the fact that it must be a nightmare to move house here as there is no way you can get a removal truck in here and the furniture would have to be man-handled up the many steps and paths. I wouldn't want to be doing Amazon deliveries here either. The sheer number of bars, restaurants, trattoria, bistros and hotels is quite staggering - again, as a tourist you have no way of getting your car up to your hotel so I guess you park on the perimeters and lug your luggage up the pathways.
Having satisfied our curiosity and need for badly framed and out of focus photography we headed back for a brew. About 19.00 there is a knock on the door - eh what? I opened it to find two fresh faced local rozzers there; they asked if I owned a Mercedes, er yes officer. Then you must come with us, you are illegally parked and you have a ticket and if it is not moved it will be towed away - ulp! I threw on my shoes and a jacket and grabbed the keys. Round the corner and there was their 4x4 parked in front of the Merc with blue lights flashing away. They dealt with the paperwork first, gave me the ticket and told me I can pay it at a local tobacconists - go figure. He explained the process and then asked if I would like to follow them and he would show me where I could park legally which I thought was very decent of them, I did apologise and shake their hands though, I wanted to make sure I passed the attitude test and get them onside. They were very friendly and amiable throughout, I curse myself for forgetting to take pics of them and the scene - damn!
I followed them and they pointed out the parking area and waited for me to find a space and then gave me a wave and a thumbs up and they were away. i have no idea how they tracked us down to our apartment though, I guess that's why they are police it's what they do and I think we are probably the only English tourists in town.We leave tomorrow but my first job will be to go and find a tobacconist to pay my dues. I feel like a hardened mafioso.
Now for the pics.
Attachments
More great photos.....there's some weight on those trulli roofs isn't there.
Paying a parking fine in Italy
Thursday
After breakfast I decided to pay my debts to society for my crime; as we are going to be here in Puglia I didn't want to risk doing a bunk from Ostuni only for the rozzers to catch up with me later and slap the bracelets on me and put me in a 6 x 8 room with Luigi the Strangler as my new best friend. Seemed to be a fairly simple task, the cop said that I could pay it at a tobacconist so of I toddled to find my nearest purveyor of smoking supplies. In two minutes I was at a counter and showed the paperwork to a lady who spoke as much English as I italian She asked for ID, I handed my driving license over, it was soon obvious that computer says no, although due to the language barrier I knew not why.
Thinking it might be the id I headed back to collect my passport and then went in search of a different tobacconist which i found about 500 metres away. Up to the counter goes I only to be presented with the same blank looks - enter my hero who shall now be called Saint Peter. he spoke a little English and he explained that, in contradiction to what the cop said, I have to go to a Post Office, bugger, now I really was bolloxed. Saint Peter says he will take me there which is a good five minutes walk away and no way could I have found it myself. With our limited understanding of each other's language I ascertained that Saint Peter is a retired cop of 59 years age having served in Milan and in Ostuni. Into the PO and he took over, I caught the odd word Inglesi and after some paperwork shuffling and the production of a credit card I paid the fine of 30 Euros and was given a receipt. Job done I thought but no! Saint Peter now explained that I have to present the paperwork at the police station, after ascertaining that I had walked to the tobacconist he managed to get me to understand that we needed to go to his house to get his car and he would take me to the local nick. I was quite certain that I was not about to be kidnapped for white slavery so off we went. He has two cars, one a very small, old and battered FIAT, in we get and then scream off for a harum scarum breakneck journey through some of the narrowest, poorly surfaced streets I have ever been on. It was like The Italian Job on steroids. Saint Peter seemed to know everybody in town, every stop at red lights he would be in conversation with the occupants of the car nest to us, he was clearly telling them who I was and that his mission was to prevent me getting locked up in the slammer. Ladies would look over to me and wave and smile, I was quite enjoying the infamy to be honest.
At the nick, no buggering about at the counter for St Peter, we turned immediately right and went up some stairs into an office where a senior looking cop sat, it was obvious they were old mates and after the usual pleasantries I was introduced to head honcho. He was all smiles, very affable, i produced the paperwork, he knew of the car and the incident, he had a reasonable grasp of English and to be honest it was a decent experience. He asked me where I was from, what I was doing in Italy, when I told him we were down here for an extended period touring he was all smiles, he also asked how King Charles was doing! After several handshakes and smiles we were off.
St Peter then dropped me off at the apartment, I introduced him to Alena and after a man hug to both cheeks he was away. So, what I expected to be a five minute job turned into a bit of a mission of at least an hour and I once again failed to get photos of St Peter and the head cop, I must do better.
About 11am we were off, heading to Polignano a Mare on the north Adriatic coast. We had to take the same road as the previous day to Alborobello, it is a twisty scenic route and a pleasurable drive. We stopped again in Alborobello as Her Ladyship wanted a few more pics of the Trulli houses. We exited the town and headed north, at the next town I made a few navigational errors, sometimes the Garmin is a few seconds behind in catching up, probably due to the narrow roads and high buildings so before I know it I have made a wrong turn and have to wait for the inevitable recalc. Road sings are not very prolific but I spotted a sign for Polignano so took it and let the Garmin catch up in due course.
We arrived in Polignano with the inevitable grid system of narrow streets and one way systems. By some miracle I managed to get to the digs without a navigational feck up. There were two ladies outside the apartment, the cleaning ladies, they greeted us with effusive welcomes and smiles, one of them, Anca, was dressed as if she was about to out clubbing in a fetching fedora hat, shades, blouse, skin tight jeans and knee length high heeled boots, so very stylish.
While waiting for them to finish a car came up behind me so I had to move off around the block and when I got back there was a convenient parking spot just round the side of the apartment - good, no more parking fines today.
After a bit of lunch we headed off for an explore; the streets are immaculately clean, loads of shops, PaM is obviously a very chic holiday resort. Loads of cafes, trattoria, bistros and restaurants and of course the usual impressive architecture. We went onto a bridge over a gorge which looked over a rocky inlet, the sea was crashing in, we managed to find a set of steps that took us under the bridge and down to the shoreline. PaM is built on a series of high cliffs and the scenery is quite dramatic.
Now, PaM is famous for being the home town of Domenico Modugno who wrote and sang that Italian standard Volare, later covered by Dean Martin and many others, there is a statue dedicated to him. We stopped for cappuccinos and cakes, 7.50 Euros, not too bad.
Today we head for Matera which is one of the longest inhabited cities in the world, third after Aleppo and Jericho, it is another UNESCO heritage site. Many movies have been filmed here, many of them biblical epics and includes the latest Bond film No Time To Die. I am looking forward to this visit.
Thursday
After breakfast I decided to pay my debts to society for my crime; as we are going to be here in Puglia I didn't want to risk doing a bunk from Ostuni only for the rozzers to catch up with me later and slap the bracelets on me and put me in a 6 x 8 room with Luigi the Strangler as my new best friend.
Seemed to be a fairly simple task, the cop said that I could pay it at a tobacconist so of I toddled to find my nearest purveyor of smoking supplies. In two minutes I was at a counter and showed the paperwork to a lady who spoke as much English as I italian She asked for ID, I handed my driving license over, it was soon obvious that computer says no, although due to the language barrier I knew not why.Thinking it might be the id I headed back to collect my passport and then went in search of a different tobacconist which i found about 500 metres away. Up to the counter goes I only to be presented with the same blank looks - enter my hero who shall now be called Saint Peter. he spoke a little English and he explained that, in contradiction to what the cop said, I have to go to a Post Office, bugger, now I really was bolloxed. Saint Peter says he will take me there which is a good five minutes walk away and no way could I have found it myself. With our limited understanding of each other's language I ascertained that Saint Peter is a retired cop of 59 years age having served in Milan and in Ostuni. Into the PO and he took over, I caught the odd word Inglesi and after some paperwork shuffling and the production of a credit card I paid the fine of 30 Euros and was given a receipt. Job done I thought but no! Saint Peter now explained that I have to present the paperwork at the police station, after ascertaining that I had walked to the tobacconist he managed to get me to understand that we needed to go to his house to get his car and he would take me to the local nick. I was quite certain that I was not about to be kidnapped for white slavery so off we went. He has two cars, one a very small, old and battered FIAT, in we get and then scream off for a harum scarum breakneck journey through some of the narrowest, poorly surfaced streets I have ever been on. It was like The Italian Job on steroids. Saint Peter seemed to know everybody in town, every stop at red lights he would be in conversation with the occupants of the car nest to us, he was clearly telling them who I was and that his mission was to prevent me getting locked up in the slammer. Ladies would look over to me and wave and smile, I was quite enjoying the infamy to be honest.
At the nick, no buggering about at the counter for St Peter, we turned immediately right and went up some stairs into an office where a senior looking cop sat, it was obvious they were old mates and after the usual pleasantries I was introduced to head honcho. He was all smiles, very affable, i produced the paperwork, he knew of the car and the incident, he had a reasonable grasp of English and to be honest it was a decent experience. He asked me where I was from, what I was doing in Italy, when I told him we were down here for an extended period touring he was all smiles, he also asked how King Charles was doing! After several handshakes and smiles we were off.
St Peter then dropped me off at the apartment, I introduced him to Alena and after a man hug to both cheeks he was away. So, what I expected to be a five minute job turned into a bit of a mission of at least an hour and I once again failed to get photos of St Peter and the head cop, I must do better.
About 11am we were off, heading to Polignano a Mare on the north Adriatic coast. We had to take the same road as the previous day to Alborobello, it is a twisty scenic route and a pleasurable drive. We stopped again in Alborobello as Her Ladyship wanted a few more pics of the Trulli houses. We exited the town and headed north, at the next town I made a few navigational errors, sometimes the Garmin is a few seconds behind in catching up, probably due to the narrow roads and high buildings so before I know it I have made a wrong turn and have to wait for the inevitable recalc. Road sings are not very prolific but I spotted a sign for Polignano so took it and let the Garmin catch up in due course.
We arrived in Polignano with the inevitable grid system of narrow streets and one way systems. By some miracle I managed to get to the digs without a navigational feck up. There were two ladies outside the apartment, the cleaning ladies, they greeted us with effusive welcomes and smiles, one of them, Anca, was dressed as if she was about to out clubbing in a fetching fedora hat, shades, blouse, skin tight jeans and knee length high heeled boots, so very stylish.
While waiting for them to finish a car came up behind me so I had to move off around the block and when I got back there was a convenient parking spot just round the side of the apartment - good, no more parking fines today.
After a bit of lunch we headed off for an explore; the streets are immaculately clean, loads of shops, PaM is obviously a very chic holiday resort. Loads of cafes, trattoria, bistros and restaurants and of course the usual impressive architecture. We went onto a bridge over a gorge which looked over a rocky inlet, the sea was crashing in, we managed to find a set of steps that took us under the bridge and down to the shoreline. PaM is built on a series of high cliffs and the scenery is quite dramatic.
Now, PaM is famous for being the home town of Domenico Modugno who wrote and sang that Italian standard Volare, later covered by Dean Martin and many others, there is a statue dedicated to him. We stopped for cappuccinos and cakes, 7.50 Euros, not too bad.
Today we head for Matera which is one of the longest inhabited cities in the world, third after Aleppo and Jericho, it is another UNESCO heritage site. Many movies have been filmed here, many of them biblical epics and includes the latest Bond film No Time To Die. I am looking forward to this visit.
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