Alberobello and Locorotondo

 18,000 steps and only 30 kms of driving

Today we visited 2 different towns that are close by to where we are staying. Close by does not mean an easy drive here, tiny streets that don't seem like you could ever have 2 cars meet each other, but somehow it works. The stone fences on the side of the road add to the excitement.

First visit today was at Alberobello, a magical trulli town. We also found where all the tourists are, they are visiting Alberobello!

We lucked out and found a white line parking spot, white line means you don't have to pay. Blue lines you need to figure out how to pay, which is a little different in each town. Usually it involves a pay meter that you enter your license plate number into and your money and you are set. You can also pay online, which is great because you can add more time when needed without going back to your car. Unfortunately the app is not working on our phone, but we have only ran into this issue once.

Trullo (signular) Trulli (plural) made the town of Alberobello a UNESCO world heritage site since 1996. You see these Trulli houses all over this area of Puglia, not only in Alberobello, but has the largest concentration of them. We are actually staying in a Trulli house for a few days. Lots of rules now about making adjustments to the Trulli or building new ones, like our heritage homes.

Alberobello has many many of these trulli homes converted into little shops. Some of the shops allow you to climb up onto their flat roofs for panoramic views, we were able to do this at 2 shops, very nice.

We have heard different reasons for these houses, one was to evade the tax man, we he came to town these houses were dismantled until he left, then put back together again. No mortar was used in the original Trullis. We also see lots of these in farmers fields, they are used as shelters.

A magical town, that made us think of Wendys sister Jill many times, she would have loved it here. A couple of hours here and it was time to move on. We had parked near the bus parking and most of the busses have moved on now. We realize we did these 2 towns backwards today, it would have been better to do Alberobello later when there are less tourists around, we thought we would beat them this morning, but we did not. We heard it isn't even busy until after Easter, glad we won't be here then.

Second part of the day. After visiting Alberobello we drove to Locorotondo which was a short 15 minutes drive. It has a beautiful old town which is perched on top of a hill. Walked around the small alley streets and visited a few churches. Found a nice little place for lunch where we had Lasagna and a rice, potatoes and mussel dish. Parking here we found a blue spot, but it is really cheap here, we paid for 4 hours even though we knew we wouldn't be that long, it was only 1 Euro.

Then drove to our Trulli where we had booked a supper and wine tasting in the olive gardens. They do this once a week and open it up to non guests as well. We started with a tour of the vineyards and explanation of the different grapes that they use for wine making. The English people mostly stuck together, 2 from Australia, 3 from US, and 2 from Malta which was fun for us to relive our trip there. We had a multi course meal that everything was done in house including the wines that came from their winery and limeoncello. There was about 20 of us for supper inside and 10 more outside. Very happy to be inside as it was around 10-12 degrees outside. It would have been nice to eat outside in the olive garden, but not in this weather. It was a 3 hour meal, lots and lots of fun. Wine tasting is not my thing, what does it smell like you are asked? My response: Wine....

Typical country roads around where we are

What most trullu must have looked like 50 years ago

Here in Alberobello they are mostly painted white

Was on Wendy's list of place to go see but was not open.  An ancient legend has it that the Siamese Trullo was inhabited by two brothers, the eldest of whom was the betrothed of a girl. She, however, fell in love with her younger brother, and the two became lovers, so that the cohabitation between siblings became unbearable. The eldest, angry, chased away the two lovers, and claimed the birthright over the house. But even the younger appealed to the right to receive his share of the trullo as an inheritance, so that it was divided into two parts, with all due respect.

One place had a construction permit, you can see what they looked like without white paint

The only trulli church

The trulli dome

This man lives on a one way street, here he is backing out

lots of shops in the trulli

How much the steps have been used out

From one of the shops that let you go on their rooftop

From the lookout next to the church on the other side

Casa di Amore

The Cathedral

The largest trulli, a museum but we did not bother

Now in Locorotondo

Restaurant in the middle of a vineyard on the edge of town

The view from the circle road on the edge of old town

2 very large jugs of wine.

Curved last supper painting

Lots of small alleys, no cars in old town

A small church with a barrel dome

Earlier in the day, the local weekly market was in front

There a legend here but I can't remember it

Back at our trulli

The cat is well trained not to go in

The trulli next door with the owners vines

Springtime here

Getting the oven ready for supper

Nana making pasta for tonight's supper

Papa trimming the olive trees, they take more than half off

We have the unit in the back of this picture. We face the main entrance and east.

The owner gave us a tour of his vineyard and talked about his types of wine.

Everything was homemade. Bread, focaccia, salami, olive oil and all the cooked food.

Sausages and potatoes after have meat, then pasta. A real Italian meal

About 20 inside and 10 more outside for supper

We had the bubbly, 2 white, a red and limoncello with supper