Well, we have once again been very busy over the last few days. For our last night in Anacapri, we had a very nice dinner at a little place, Casa Rossa, just down the street from our B&B. I think we kept him open later than he wanted--Anacapri gets very quiet at night.
Then, Friday morning, we caught a ferry to Amalfi, where we had to change boats to go to Maiori, just 15 minutes down the Amalfi coast. Our first ferry was late, so we missed our connection and had to wait an hour for another boat. We grabbed some street food for lunch--there were THREE cruise ships in the harbour at Amalfi, so it was packed.
Arrived in Maiori and after a bit of a searching process, finally found our B&B, Casa di Aurora (which was not the name on the booking--also, they aren't big on street signs in Italian towns). We headed across the street for some beach time, which was much needed. Later we went for an excellent dinner along the waterfront at a lovely place called El Dorado Bar. We only spent 1 night in Maiori but we were wishing we had spent more. It just has a great "beach town" vibe. In hindsight, we should have visited Capri on a daytrip, instead of our Amalfi boat ride, and spent two more nights in Maiori. Anyway, we got up on Saturday and caught a SITA bus to Salerno (the ferry schedule didn't work) to pick up our rental car at noon. We had to stand, as the bus started in Amalfi, and our legs and arms got a good workout as the careened around the Almalfi Coast Road turns.
We got the car, a little Fiat Punta, and headed out for Puglia, on the East coast of Italy, to a little town called Castellana Grotte.
Made a wrong turn early in Salerno and had to improvise (we're old school and are using downloaded Google Maps directions and no GPS) but finally we got on the highway we wanted and the highway driving was pretty smooth. We made a few more wrong turns but got back on track pretty quickly. Until we got to Castellana Grotte that is. We spent about 2 hours driving around, asking people, stopping to get wifi and looking it up again and still not finding it. We called the place, but our host doesn't speak English. Google maps had an extra turn in their directions that kept sending us in the complete wrong direction. (Unlike the highways, which are really well marked, the towns have virtually no street signs, and Google says things like "turn left at Via Giuseppe Marconi"). Finally, going back to a gas station bar for the second time, I showed the girl behind the counter ther name of the place and she knew the owner and called him and he came and got us. Turns out we had almost got there once but said "It can't be this far out". Anyway we are staying in a tiny little "trullo" (plural: trulli), which is a conical stone building that is traditional to the area. They are most common in Alberobello, about 20 km away, but we couldn't find one in Alberobello, so we came here. It is an experience. Saturday night, having gotten in so late, we headed straight out for dinner, to a place about a 15 minute walk up the road, since I didn't really want to drive any more, especially at night. Of course, it was closed, so we walked backed and got in the car to go to the next closest place, the Antica Roma Pub Pizzeria, which was kind of a hokey place where the staff dress up as Romans on Saturday (missed Kareoke on Friday, anyway!). The place was packed and the pizza was actually very good. Made it home and I was asleep about 10 seconds after my head hit the pillow.
Sunday, after breakfast, we headed out for Alberobello to see the trulli. Even though most of them now have bars or souvenir shops in them, it is quite impressive to see all of them together. (In this area, you do see lots of trulli scattered around the countryside.) Then we headed for another town, Locorotondo, but it seemed to be closed up tight, it being Sunday and siesta time. So we headed along the road to Cisternino, where we did stop and check out some views and wander the old town a bit. Of course, every time we are going anywhere, there are a few wrong turns, which delay things a bit, but we never get really lost. Finally we headed for Ostuni, the "White City", and made our way into town but just could not find our way to the "centro storico"--there were signs pointing in every direction--so finally we gave up and headed back. A different route of course (along the straightest long stretch of highway I have ever seen--must have been an old Roman road), through Fasano, so of course we made a few wrong turns in Fasano town. Anyway, we made it home and later actually found the old centre of Castllana Grotte and found a decent restaurant open for something other than pizza or pasta.
Monday, we headed out for Matera to see the "sassi", which are ancient settlements of houses built right into the calcarenitic rock. It really is unique and impressive. We only saw one of the two areas, Sasso Barisano, as we were very hot and tired and once we ate a lovely lunch of local cured meats and cheeses, we didn't have the energy to go see Sasso Caveoso.
And of course, we got on a different road on the way out of town and ended up halfway to Bari before we could make a hard right and backtrack a bit to get heading home. Got stopped by a police checkpoint once we were back on track and he only wanted to know if we were going to Bari. When we said we were going to Castellana Grotte he just gave us directions (which we actually didn't need at this point!) and waved us on. Got back into town and stopped at the Simply Market to pick up some beer, wine and some meat and cheese for a light supper, which we are about to eat. In case you hadn't figured it out yet, "But it's a lovely road" is what we keep saying when we discover that we are going in not quite the right direction.
2025-02-14