What Is Carole Up To Now?: Weekend in Puglia

So 3 friends have been hatching a plan to go on a girls trip, quick getaway to Italy. Tried for Rome, but it’s too expensive already in the season. A cheap flight to Bari came up. (Italy looks like a boot, Bari is in the heel – in the Puglia region.) It’s south, on the Adriatic. Looked like a great beach weekend. I was privileged to be asked along.

Thursday morning we flew into Bari. We took the shuttlebus to train station in town. This was a spur of the moment trip and we decided to not reserve any hotel rooms in advance. So our first task was to get a place for the night. We walked a bit, put the suitcases down. We had been told to watch out in Bari, keep our purses close and not leave anything in the car. Judi & I stayed with the bags, Renu & Anna went to look for a hotel. Eventually, they found the Pensione. There just wasn’t much in the area. Renu is a bargainer, she asks everyone for a lower price. It’s great to watch her in action, I learned a lot. She got the one place to 60 Euro per room for 2 double rooms. Judi looked at other place (in the same building), and bargained us to 2 double rooms for 55 Euros each room. So we took that one. We had also agreed in advance that we’d spend the money on good meals, not on the rooms. Didn’t plan to stay in them much, just to sleep.

We settled in, then headed out to walk around Bari. We first got lunch – Anna & I had bean puree with greens, a local typical dish. Judi had a panini. The we started shopping. Of particular interest were high-heeled sneakers that Renu has been looking for, for a year.

Anna trying sandals

Judi peering over the case; they didn't replicate the window display inside the store

Renu trying them on

Renu bargained on the price and got a better deal. We saw lots of clothes stores, many unique to that area of Italy. Ended up at an Asian market on a wide boulevard, I bought a couple scarves. It was not warm – weirdly cold for that part of Italy that time of year. I had the worng clothes with me. Thank the Universe that I wore one pair of black pants there, I wore themt he whole trip.

We headed to the old town area, stopped for a coffee on the way. Sat out of the wind, at the side of the building and basked in the sunshine.

Renu, Judi, Anna enjoying coffee

Then we found St Nicholas’s church – he’s buried below the church. A Polish group was there, on a pilgrimage. We followed them down into the tomb, which was exquisite - beautiful lighting, low vaulted ceilings, decoration. At one point the group started a hymn and and the sound was delightful, echoing off the stone.

We walked through the rest of the old town, saw the local castle but didn’t go in.

We wandered back to hotel to get ready for dinner. Walked back to a restaurant that Anna’s friend had recommended, by the castle. We sat inside and were promptly welcomed into the community. We weren’t sure what to have, pasta as primi and fish as secondi for sure, but which one? We were eyeing the pasta dish that came to the table behind us. One guy, Giancarlo, said, “You can’t have it” as he waved it at us. No, no, we want to know what it is, we replied. Our waiter, Antonio, brought us one. And the 2 we ordered, and one other we were caught looking at, on a different table. Then came the fishes. The salads and contorni. The extra bottle of wine, that we didn’t order. The lemon ice. The limoncello and strawberry liquor. The roses. (There had been 4 different guys selling roses through the restaurant in the evening. On the last one, our waiter was going to buy the for us but we declined.) Trying to kiss me in the bathroom. The pie that we didn’t order was the last thing to come to the table. By now, everyone else had left and the staff was starting to come out to get their meal. We think we even saw the fisherman who caught our dinner.

We had asked Giancarlo if there were good nightspots to go to. He recommended a street to walk on, said we’d be fine with the 4 of us. Just go past the Swedish castle … Swedish, eh? Anna chimed in and said that in recent history the Swedes have a neutral reputation, but earlier on they romped through Europe and kicked everyone they could find. We headed that way. (Did we go to a bar that night?)

Our group is quite the international group. People kept asking where we were from. Renu is from India (then U.K.); Judi is Australian, Anna is Swedish, and I’m from the U.S. It made people wonder how we got together, and we’d explain about Munich and the International Women’s Club.

Judi & I shared a room that night, passed out quick. The room was big, clean, but poorly decorated. But we didn’t spend much time at all in it, and it was a great price.

Next morning, (Friday) we packed, put our cases down in the lobby and headed to breakfast. I went to a market to get yogurt, they had coffee and croissants. Back to shoe shops, Renu got another pair that she’d seen the day before and decided that she did want. Even higher-heeled sneakers. We ended up at the Hertz place, with no documentation, and confused the heck out of the poor guy. I started learning Judi’s version of Australian. Her ‘connector’ isn’t ‘um’, or ‘ya know’ or ‘em’ or ‘wossname’, it’s ‘unh unh unh’ She was going to be a driver, but didn’t have her license with her. So we said we’d take the car, load it up, come back with her license. She said to the guy , “So it will be quick, yeh? When we come back, you can just unh unh unh (making typing motions with her hands) and we’ll be done, right?” Meanwhile, Renu was shopping and got shorts next door. Finally we got the car. Headed out the wrong way but got ourselves oriented and got to the hotel. Picked up the bags, barely got them into the car (foreshadowing here) ran to the supermarket next to the hotel for water.

Headed back to the Hertz place to get Judi registered. Anna got us there, she was delighted at how relaxed everyone was. Share the road? No problem. Headed out of town, she joked that, in Germany, a red light is declarative; in Paris, informative; in Italy, decorative. We found our autostrada and sailed off towards the Outlets. On the way we had a fab lunch in the seaside town of Molfetta – Renu & Judi had the Risotto, with Gamberi, I had a crepe, Anna had the fish. Wonderful.

The Outlets were great shopping. They have very cool makeup in Italy, very cheap compared to Germany. Renu made me up – I am loving this girl stuff! I got some great shirts at the Zara Outlet.

Back in the car a couple hours later, we went back past Bari to Locorontodo (which does not mean ‘crazy circle’ in Italian!). We were trying to find a place recommended in the area tourist book and couldn’t find the street so we pulled into a gas station to ask. The one guy we asked didn’t speak much English, and he bustlked away to find us someone who did. A girl soon walked over, we explained where we were trying to get to and she gave us some directions that the guy objected to. So she stopped and said there was a better way. Her English was great – perfect grammar, but the way she said the directions were: “Go to the circus, and go HUP (pointing up the hill), and strange to the panorama.” Anna was cracking up, in tears. So we went past the circus (I was looking for a traffic circle, all there was was an intersection) We pulled into another gas station and got pointed back to where we’d come from. Took the turn, went HUP, and started seeing signs for Sotto le Cummerse, the place we’d targeted. Then we tried to pull into the pedestrian zone – asked someone if they spoke English, he gave the “one moment” finger, and ran to get someone, who arrived just as the police did. It was a very friendly policeman, who told us to continue and then park, and walk around to the place. Everyone here is so friendly!! Not many tourists at all, which may be why everyone remains friendly.

View from high point of Locorontondo

At Sotto le Cummerse, Renu & Judi bargained again, we got it for 100 per night for 2 nights. It was a 2-room apartment, with a kitchen and one double bed & 2 singles. Settle in, nap time, then we got ready for dinner. The agent for the apartment had told us where to go for din, and about a bar opening the next night.

The apartment on Via Avril

Looking up the “street”; we were in the pedestrian zone

Dinner was good. We again looked at someone else’s food and had the plate show up on our table! Afterwards, wandered into a café, then the local wine bar. All local crowd. Judi soon met everyone, and we all were talking to folks. Anna’s fluent French helped, I could follow those conversations. Renu met Graciella who owns a lingerie store there, and Pipi her cute French bulldog. Judi captivated everybody! She was asking after how old these folks were, someone said 25 and she said “My baby’s age.” No way can she have a baby that age – it spread through the bar like fire. Plus, Anna being a lawyer spread quickly too. Everyone seemed very comfortable with each other. Renu met the guy who reps Adidas for the area, he has a friend in London who owns 2 restaurants. At one point, he handed his mobile to Renu so she could talk to the guy. She’s got his name so we can go to his place when we’re in London.

Got a dinner res for the next night from this group And recommendation for the same bar opening.

We strolled back to the apartment, where the cistern/pump right outside the place was chuckling all night long. Judi was outraged at the noise for about 5 min and then we all passed out again.

Saturday, our plan was to go to Alberobello, to see some typical architecture. We walked around first to find breakfast.

Locorontondo Church Tower