Timdar Travel Blog

Sitting in the airport at the end of our holiday.

• No lost car keys
• No punctures
• No scratches or damage to the car
• Loved the parking app. One huge plus is that all the small towns use the same one which really makes life easy. Saves collecting and carrying a large amount of coins. And can extend the stay if we like it and curtail it if we don’t.

Anyway, final towns to explore. We’d tried Ostuni on Saturday but it was so busy we couldn’t park.

Torre Canne

Ostuni

And our conclusion is

• For seaside, Torre Canne
• For towns, Locorotondo with Cisternino getting an honourable mention.

So for the last couple of days (when it turned really hot – mid 20s which was lovely) we spent the day at the beach and the evenings in Locorotondo.

Torre Canne

Locorotondo

… small gorgeous towns.

Villanova

Torre Canne

Cisternino

And not forgetting our local meadows

After the excitement of Matera we needed a holiday! So we’re surrounded by a cluster of small towns in between Bari and Brindisi with lovely views from the terrace.

Locorotondo

No – I’d never heard of any of them either.

Martina Franca

Monopoli

Polignano a Mare

Alberobello

In particular the houses known as Trulli.

Our stay in Matera has come to an end and it’s been amazing.

I did try one of the local specialities the other evening – orecchiette with turnip tops. It was ok – obviously done by a skilled chef – but probably not worth trying again.

It’s my street

And a couple of reminders

A few things we learned. Haven’t checked them and are relying on the guide:

• It’s the third longest inhabited city – c12,000 years, and behind Aleppo and Jericho (but you probably knew that)
• All the houses are essentially caves, and were inhabited until the 1950’s when it was declared “a city of shame”. People shared with their livestock, and there was no sanitation or running water.
• People were forcibly evacuated, the last ones in 1971.
• It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage Site (for the water management and cisterns).
• The first hotel only opened in 2001.

Lots of other stuff which can be checked out in other places.

Meanwhile photos are hard to do it justice

Even if it looks like a house, it’s a cave with a front attached. And distances are quite hard to judge as they’re all built directly on top of one another.

Our guide Gaetano who was really good, although a bit of a film buff, and kept mentioning Mel Gibson, Daniel Craig and Angelina Jolie who have all filmed here.

Cave that housed a family of 4 plus livestock – in need of refurbishment.

We’re done for today!

Long and reasonably tedious 3 hours to get to Matera.

Really good coffee; view not in the same class!

Don’t really know much about it, apart from people lived in caves until quite recently. Got a tour booked for tomorrow which will enlighten us.

Meanwhile some acclimatisation – already looks amazing.

Again, but this time it’s sunny.

We’re getting into a bit of a rhythm, of (successfully) dodging showers, enjoying the view from our house and venturing out as a bit of a diversion.

Lecce is about 40 minutes away, and decided to see what it looks like when it’s sunny. Pretty much the same, although the photos are a lot better.

At this time of year, everywhere is extremely quiet – possibly even a bit too quiet, but we can’t complain. Lucce was easy – parking just outside the walls, restaurants very pleased to see you etc. although where we’re staying is pretty much a ghost town at the moment – it was even a surprise to find the local supermarket actually open.

Anyway, more views for the last time before we head off tomorrow.

Planned a day of gentle sightseeing, with the aim of also dodging the showers, which didn’t really materialise anyway.

First Leuca – why? Simply because of where it is.

Perfectly nice seaside town, although the season doesn’t appear to have started.

Then headed up the coast rode to Otranto which I’d never heard of.

Main bit is the 1000 year old mosaic floor in the Duomo.

And the “mini Cordoba” in the crypt.

And back to our house which is no hardship!

Lovely house, right on the beach. Even better when it’s sunny and warm.

(That’s just a random person but I liked the silhouette. )

Eventually dragged ourselves out. Enjoyed the colourful Spring.

And Gallipoli. We’d been there on our first afternoon when it was grey and we were tired

So tried again today.

Happy Christmas!

The forecast was for heavy rain all day, so we had visions of sitting on the terrace and occasionally dashing out armed with macs and umbrellas. The storm certainly came, with thunder, lightning and a torrential downpour for about half an hour, which was fun to watch from the comfort of our covered terrace.

Lecce

As Eileen said, if it was in another country or even in another part of Italy, Lecce would be a huge attraction. The weather was super kind (compared to our expectations), but it was quite hard to capture Lecce in photos but here goes ..

And an absolutely stonkingly good lunch (a sort of Puglian type of tagliatelle bolognaise although they wouldn’t dream of describing it as such).

Nardo

It rained, so we did our shopping. (Where we’re staying is lovely – more pics when the sun comes out) but soooooo quiet. Don’t know when the season starts, but there’s absolutely nothing open so we have to get supplies in when we’re out.

Even less well known than Lecce, but wonderfully diverting for an hour or so.

New York

Couldn’t resist a guest appearance