Alberobello

What a fantastic difference between the sprawling city of Bari and the little town of Alberobello in the countryside. I fell in love with it instantly. The more than two- metre high sunflowers at the side of main roads was quite a unique, and beautiful touch.

Who wouldn't love this place with its hundreds of extraordinary dry stone walll houses at every corner, and in some places, dozens of them clustered together!!

There is something magical about them. It certainly is hard to believe that many are still inhabited, some are restaurants, and many are souvenir shops or galleries. I am glad I do not have to climb these stairs though?!

The first day was not without a few adventures! Amazingly, as I was walking around, I met an Australian lady, Shirley, who coincidentally is studying with me at the school! Considering the number of tourists around, it was incredible that she was the first person I met. Great too that she wants to speak Itslian all the time. Brilliant.

We headed down to the area with most Trulli houses but sadly as we arrived we were nearly desfened by the first huge thunder clap, followed seconds later by a nasty flash of lightning which hit the hills above the houses. We found shelter in a doorway, but as the thunder and lightning became more intense, and the thunder truly terrifying in its intensity, we found a souvenir shop to shelter in, where we stayed for well over an hour, watching the lightning and cowering at every clap of thunder. It was terrifying. Apparently a lot of homes lost power, as did the cathedral, whose spire was struck! Not for the faint- hearted, but great Italian practice. Once the raging torrents in the streets subsided, and peace once again prevailed, we hurried home!

At dusk, i ventured out again. The air was fresh and the rooftops stood out even more, and the cats came out to enjoy the cooler air.

It is so very picturesque here, and the rooves so cleverly built.

Luckily, there was a special, local opera the first evening, outside the largest Trullo, Trullo Sovrano. What an impressive setting and a magnificent atmosphere. The singers were fantastic, and although I could not understand everything, it was a super evening.

The cathedral had its lights back on and looked spectacular against the night sky.

Further down the road, a much photographed cat peered down at those trying desperately to get a top shot.

So today, Monday, was the first day at school. It was so enjoyable with Tiziana, our teacher, and Shirley. I think we will have a wonderful week and learn a lot. 

In the evening was the first cooking class with Nonna (granny) Maria, who is 89 years old. She showed me photos of her husband who passed away only this June, at the age of 93, but still, like her, was totally able to enjoy life. Sadly, he died on their 65 th wedding anniversary. What a story! She now keeps herself busy with cooking classes and has started travelling. I love it. I have met so many inspirational people.

We cooked from her and her family's gardens. The meal was very traditional food, very simple, but incredibly tasty. One thing I quickly learned was that hands are the main utensil for making the dough, the gnocchi, etc. we certainly economised on washing up!

It was such fun making all the dishes for the three courses. I am not sure how vegans would cope here, as parmesan plays a massive part in most of the savoury recipes. 
How fantastic to sit with the family to eat such a delicious feast.

I so enjoyed that first day. Everything about it was right.

The next day, after another downpour and short period of intense thunder and lightning, streaming gutters and torrents flowing down the main street, I took a chance and headed to the main area of trullo homes. It is a fabulous view over the hills covered by trullis. Actually,  I did not head immediately to the hills because the trullis there are super- commercialised.

Instead, I opted for an area nearer to the main town centre, where the trullo houses are mainly used by tourists as Airbnbs or by locals. There are no cafes or souvenir shops here and you can see many of the original trullis, which are sadly in need of TLC. Apparently, there is such a shortage of qualified builders specialising in trullo repairs and renovation, that they are now offering a Masters in this at a local university. 

Fortunately, the majority of homes are well cared for, and some streets put on a real show for those tourists lucky enough to  decide to visit this less touristy area.

The next day, I had a brilliant afternoon with Paola, this time starting with a fantastic wine- tasting at 'i pastini', not far from Alberobello. What a pretty region this is, with its stone- walled, narrow streets, its olive groves, clusters of trullis and of course, vineyards!

Here we had a wonderful view through the vines to Locorotundo, a beautiful rounded town up on the hill.

It was a very good tour of the vineyard, which had its own trulli dating  back over two centuries.

The rooves are fantastic - again, very clever people so long ago!

The wine was delicious, all five different varieties. Now, at last I know where Primitivo, which we see so much in Switzerland, comes from!

The real star of the afternoon was 'Il sole' ( the sun), this absolutely gorgeous little, 3- month- old, white kitten, which had been found dumped at the roadside in a plastic bag! Now Il Sole, so named because he loves lying in the sun,  is definitely part of the family at the vineyard. He is extremely popular with the visitors, as one can imagine.

Next stop, the magnificent Baroque city of Martina Franca, the biggest city in Puglia.

We had a lovely time meandering through the narrow alleys and just had to stop for an ice cream at the oldest cafe in town. What a fantastic afternoon Paola and I had together.

The 'icing on the cake' was an incredible concert in the evening, close to my hotel again, but this time no opera, just a fabulous local singer, Bungaro, and his band. How lucky to have struck two events in a week. 

As there was a market on Thursday morning, we had half our class at the market, buying the food for the cooking class. It was a great idea to give us a real task. The food is so unbelievably cheap, for example 50 cents for a kilo of grapes or tomatoes!

I had a little time after the market to explore some more back streets. There are always treats in store!

I also loved this little van, and the parking of the car behind him! So Italian!

What a beautiful place Andrea has just a few minutes from town, in the country. There are four Airbnb trulli, a most refreshing swimming pool, where I spent the afternoon,  and the breakfast room/ kitchen where we cooked. 

Once again, it was brilliant to spend the evening preparing the food with Nonna Maria and Paola. We made different types of focaccia, some local biscuits and the speciality of the region, Orecchiette ( ears). The ears are very tricky to make and I am not sure I totally mastered it, but I was pretty happy.

After a couple of hours of hard work, our meal was ready. It tasted great, even more so with an award winning primitivo from the vineyard we had visited the day before.

One more day of classes to go and probably a trip to Locorotundo in the afternoon. I shall be quite sad to leave this place, where I feel so at home.