October 1 - Alberobello,Torre Canne & Lecce

We spent today in the south east of Italy.  Most tourists don’t tend to come to this region as its history and culture are not widely promoted and therefore there are not nearly as many tourists in this area as there in the major centres, such as Rome.

This morning we left the five star resort, Sierra Sivana, in Fasano and headed to the town of Alberobello.  The thing that makes Alberobello interesting is that is the home of the “Trulli” style of house.  A Trulli house has a conical roof made of self supporting limestone layers and was used by regional farmers to provide shelter to their families.  The house is generally small, with a common area, kitchen and bedroom under the domed roof.  The exterior of the roof generally has painted symbols that are mixed of Christian and Pagan symbolism.

Trulli Houses in Alberobello

Trulli Houses in Alberobello

There must be a NATO air force base nearby.  We saw a couple of jet fighters flying over the village on training exercises.

After a brief tour of the town and these uniquely designed houses, we went for lunch in Torre Canne a seaside resort on the Adriatic coast.  Marg had lobster and pasta and I had Ravioli with prawns. After lunch I dipped my feet into the water, so I’ve now been in the Atlantic, Caribbean, Pacific, Mediterranean and Adriatic.

Adriatic Sea

Marg's Lobster Lunch

Carlo, our bus driver, is only allowed to drive for two consecutive hours and then must take at least a fifteen minute break.  He places his identification card into a special device that logs his time and distance driven.  If the police pull him over, they can read the card and fine him if he has exceeded the two hour limit at any time in the last several years.   I suspect that this restriction is in place for truck drivers, intercity bus drivers and other assorted big rigs across Europe.

The main roads and highways are equipped with photo radar traps to reducing speeding.  Because these traps are located in permanent locations, you can buy GPS supported maps that will warn you when you approaching one of these traps.  You have to love technology.

We then travelled onto the town of Lecce.  This town of about 100,000 people has mainly Baroque architecture in the old section of the town.  Baroque is garish by nature.  Lecce Cathedral, one of the most significant cathedrals in Italy because of its Baroque design, glorifies the power and wealth of the Catholic Church with an over abundance of statues and paintings. It was originally built in 1144, and rebuilt in 1230. It was totally restored four hundred years later.

Alley in Lecce

Lecce Cathedral

Alley in Lecce

Paper Mache Statue in Lecce Cathederal

Lecce Cathedral

Early the century, about 1920, the town found a Roman amphitheater under the town piazza. Since then excavations have uncovered more of the old Roman town.

After the escorted tour of the town was completed, we sat down and had a couple of glasses of wine in the town piazza.  We were joined by a couple ladies on the tour who were from Queensland Australia and Tasmania.  It is true that the piazzas in Italian are a meeting place for the residents during the evening hours.  As the evening progressed more and more people arrived with their children and just seemed to be strolling around at leisurely pace.

Roman Ruins in Lecce

To get into the town the bus had to purchase a special permit to drive on the town’s streets.  The permit specifies which streets they can drive on.  Unfortunately the permit that Trafalgar received was for small cars not for a large passenger bus.  It resulted in a twenty minute drive around the town trying to figure out how to get the hotel.  The old inner city is know to the locals as Lecce Lecce in order to place some degree of importance to living in that area.

We stayed at the President Hotel Lecce.  It is a modern hotel with good sized rooms. The common areas were spacious and bright.  The breakfast was excellent as usual.

One of the ladies on the tour has one of those devices that count the number of steps you take during a walk.  She calculated that during the first couple of days of this tour, we were walking on average over 8Km.