Retired Nomads: Bari, Italy - Alberobello Trulli Houses, White Lady of Ostuni and Bari “Old Town”

I had a private tour set up with Tours of Puglia and they were very responsive and turned out to be a very good tour. e-mail: info@toursofpuglia.com web: www.toursofpuglia.com

Today we are joined by Rick & Janie, Joe & Perla and Lorraine & Chuck (a great group!)

What a great port this was! The Old Town of Bari was amazing, but getting out into the countryside to visit the Fairytale village of Alberobbello with the Trulli houses were simply charming.

Our guide was Vincenzo and our driver was Antonio. Vincenzo was a good guide, but for most of us he talked way too much. I think after doing so many ports in a row our brains are in serious overload and there is only so much history and little details we care to listen to. We would rather spend more time seeing things than hearing that much about them. The guides in Greece were very good at making the tour fun and interesting and telling us just enough without making us want to blow our brains out or scream “shut up!” OK, he wasn’t THAT bad, but you get the idea.

sail in

We were picked up promptly and as we drove out into the country side through Bari, he gave us some history of Bari.

Once we got out of the city part of town we drove past ancient olive trees and tons of flowering trees. Our first stop was to visit an olive oil farm and have some olive oil tasting. Unlike the last place that we did this, they showed a video of the process as well as seeing the equipment which helped us understand it better. It’s not the time of year when they do the processing, so we couldn’t experience it in person.

flowering trees

Trulli houses in the countryside

owner of the olive oil factory

setting up the tasting

I don't know why there was a confessional booth in the garage.....

Then we were off for a guided tour of Alberobello, which is a fairytale village. (UNESCO World Heritage Site) Such a unique town with charming narrow streets where the inhabitants live in small conical-roofed houses called "trulli," which initially were built without the use of mortar and with only dry stones piled one on top of the other and crowned with limestone roofs, which artfully supply pinnacles of magical significance. The photos (coming eventually) are adorable.

the drive to Alberobello

We first walked in the section still used for housing. Some are restored and others are still pretty much original.

no mortar is used to build them

Greg

walking up into the town

Chuck & Rick

Lorraine

our guide, Vincenzo

rain gutter

local market

we ran into the Princess tour

cat on the roof

overlook

students on Spring Break

Then, we walked to the other side where it is more commercial with most housing stores for souvenirs, wine, food restaurants etc.

We went inside a Trulli where we were given a taste of some cookies. I noticed that at the bottom of the stairs was a hoverboard. Too funny. It looked out of place in such a fantasy looking environment.

floor

ceiling

pasta

walking to the church

Our next stop was at Trullo church of Sant'Antonio.

Trullo church of Sant'Antonio

After walking that side of the village, we had free time to have lunch and or shop. Rick & Janie and Greg& I stopped at a little place for paninis which were good. Then, we grabbed some gelato. Mine wasn’t very tasty.

Wisteria

lunch stop

it was dark in there....

Then, we got in the van for the drive to White Lady of Ostuni “White Town”. Picture a sea of bright white buildings clinging to a hillside, surrounded by thick green countryside. The area has been inhabited since the Paleolithic Age, but the "White City" was developed in the 12th century when Ostuni was under the control of the Normans. The beautiful downtown historic houses have white washed facades and flat roofs.

drive to Ostuni

our first look at White Lady of Ostuni

Vincenzo guided us through the town’s narrow alleyways, where we saw the flowers on the old balconies and the views that stretched out from the terraces. Following the walls' circular structure built in the XIV century, narrow streets, arches and stairways join Ostuni's tiny dwellings to the highest point of the town’s medieval settlement, where a castle was located.

postman

unusual antenna

postman

We went through a church and stopped for some gelato. Much better gelato than the last place. It did start to rain a bit at this point in our day. Not hard, but enough to be annoying when our umbrellas were in the van.

Here we had a bit of drama when one couple got lost and were separated from the group. We all went back to the van and the guide set out to find the missing couple. Phew, he called the driver to let us know they had been found.

It was time to drive back to Bari for our guided walking tour of the Old Town.

We visited a beautiful cathedral and walked through a quirky neighborhood that was adorned with things from IKEA such as watering cans and shower curtains. (yes, wait until you see the photos).