Toot and trulli in Alberobello

Saturday 26/Sunday 27 September

Our ferry crossing was mercifully smooth and timely. Having experienced the storms of the previous day, we were concerned that it might be a bit rough so we necked a couple of sea sickness tablets which with a few glasses of wine on the poop deck (or whatever they call it) as we set sail as it seemed to us a surefire way of getting a good night's sleep.

Neily slept on the top bunk and apart from a few "where the f*** are we moments" in the middle of the night (the cabin was pitch black - there seemed little point in spending extra on a cabin with a porthole when we were sailing overnight) it was all good - though with the size of the cabin, we couldn't both move around at the same time unless one of us was in the bathroom cubicle!

Arrival in Bari was on time but we then had the inevitable queues through passport control (the Italians aren't good at queueing, are they?) even though we were waved through without even a glance at ours. I managed to flag down a taxi to take us to the central station where we stashed our cases and set off for a morning in Bari. We had some directions from the terribly nice man at left luggage, and managed to find the cathedral, the castle and some nice churches, but did struggle a bit getting back as we didn't manage to locate either the tourist information office or a map other than the photo I'd taken of the one the terribly nice man in left luggage had shown us. I wanted to hurl my phone away as the GPS just showed us walking in the wrong direction every time!

Bari new town seems quite urban and tidy with some upmarket shops. The old town is charmingly higgledy piggledy with different faded colour houses, lots of washing hanging out, stuccoed buildings and shutters - you couldn't be in any other country, and we enjoyed wandering about though decided to head for Alberobello a little earlier than planned as we were both feeling a bit tired. In fact during an audio-visual presentation in the castle we both rested our eyes for a while. (Well it was dark and the voiceover was very soothing.)

After a bit of confusion Neil worked out which platform the train left from (it's kind of separate from those of the main station if you ever go as it's run by FSE, a different railway company), and the train was clean, comfortable and on time. Our host, Katia and her boyfriend met us at the other end, and drove us to La Rosa dei Trulli B&B which she manages - or maybe owns. They're both so sweet and helpful - unfortunately this place is about a km out of town so she's concerned about us walking in as it has no proper footpath, and offered us lifts. We compromised by saying we'd walk in for the evening in daylight, and text her for a pick up when it was time to come home.

Bijou - but Nellie feels at home

Sorry, I cannot seem to rotate this but you get the general idea...

Alberobello was having a religious festival this particular weekend, which was also a good excuse for a fair and lots of stalls, some selling quality artisan produce, the rest selling the sort of multicoloured toot and non- colourfast leather goods you'll see any weekend down Petticoat Lane, much of it being sold by guys from Senegal and similar. (Though Neil did buy some pants 3 for 5 euros as he's running a bit low on undies.)

Alberobello illuminations

The lights were pretty though, and it would seem that the whole of Puglia was there, but it made it really difficult to find a restaurant. There are cafes and fast food outlets and stalls a-plenty, but we walked around for the best part of an hour in search of a decent menu, a wine list and a sit-down.  We subsequently realised that trying to find a restaurant before 8pm was very English and very naive of us, but at the time we were incredulous that something so simple was so hard to find.

After a number of rejections, we found ourselves a table in a restaurant that proved much nicer on further inspection than it appeared - we were desperate by this time. We drank cheap but good local wine, ate local ham and cheese, and ate pasta. That's what we came for. We arranged for Katia and Pierro to take us back to the apartment, and although it was only around 10pm (on a Satuday night! I don't even do that if I'm ill!) we were so cream crackered we went straight to bed and slept soundly.

We awoke bright and early for a trip to the Castellana Grottoe - it's about 15km away and we were given a lift there and back. The caves were beautiful with a great tour - honestly the best I've ever seen - with magnificent caverns, columns and shapes. Very stalagtitey and stalagmitey.

Afraid we weren't allowed to take pics further in, so this is just the opening cavern

We came back to the town and wandered, with gelati en route of course, though the toot and tat was still omnipresent right the way along the main drag. We visited the trulli shops again, I bought the compulsory fridge magnet and Neil bought some nice almond liquer, and we got ripped off for a bottle of fairly indifferent local wine - but it was cold and nice to drink as we watched the sun go down over La Rosa dei Trulli in the company of Cloud, Katia's white cat who seems to have attached herself to us.

Back into town and pushing our way through the crowds for dinner - we'd had the foresight to book this time, though if truth be told the meal was a little indifferent this time. Highlight of our evening was having a quick spin on the dodgems, which I haven't done since I don't know when. For 2 euros, the 3 minutes of pure adrenalin was a bargain, and sealed the weekend very nicely thank you.

Up horribly early for Sicily tomorrow, with a complex set of train connections to make - another long Monday, but I hope this time with nicer trains and without a fatality. Plus, we go on a train that goes on a ferry - that should be a cool rail journey.