Wed/Thurs 9/14-15

The eight hour drive to Alberobello went off without a hitch.  On the other hand, leaving the hotel at 5:45 to catch a 6:11 ferry to the airport was a little dicey. Once there we had to find our way to the car rental…of course, we had to wait for it to open. We were on the road by 8:30 and then it was a piece of cake.

We found our way to the hotel easy enough and were a little befuddled by the amount of luggage that was heaped in the lobby.  Even more so when the “padrone” looked at us like we had ten heads when we told her we had a reservation.  She started speaking in Italian…no room at the inn…thank goodness Lenny had the reservation on his phone…ahhh!  Trulli!..si!

As it happens, we were assigned to a trulli, while the owners of all those bags filled the entire hotel.  They were on a tour from Sicily and the poor owner was overwhelmed!

Anyhow, we were shown to our “rooms”, settled in, then went exploring. The town seems bright white, almost dazzling. At the overlook Ann got a little faklempt being in the birthplace of her father. 

After some picture taking, we found a place for dinner…not very welcoming.  Orichietti finally on the menu…mmm good.

Next morning we had a walking tour with Melina.  Her first question to us was “do you know about Italian history?”  Ha!  The next 2 hours were  spent walking up and down cobbled streets (5 miles), visiting the trulli, and getting an abbreviated history lesson. We visited the church of St Anthony of Padua that Ann’s uncle actually helped build.  We were able to get into a n original trulli that is owned by the posh hotel in town. Melina was able to get the key which was not part of the official tour. It should be noted that when we told Melina Ann’s surname (Sportello) she went a little nuts, informing us that that name is still very common in the town and she must have relatives!

It was a great relaxing morning…onto Terranove!