Day 9 - Hanging out around Macerata

After breakfast yesterday, we headed into Macerata, which is the biggest town around this area.  I had read that at the Cathedral, they have the biggest choir in all of Italy, and that they were singing at 11 o'clock mass - so I had to go see this.

Got to Macerata and found the Cathedral.  Choir started to assemble, and I'm thinking that it's not that big. Only 18 people - hard to believe that's the biggest choir in Italy.  Oh well - got to attend mass and hear the choir sing.

Afterwards, I was checking the map of the town.  Turns out there are two cathedrals, and I was in the wrong one.  The other cathedral, probably with the big choir, was at the other end of the old town.  I'm still amazed at the number of churches in such a small area.  Here's another one - an old one which is no longer in use.

You can see from the pavement that it was a rainy day - but that didn't stop the beach volleyball tournament which was set up in a Piazza up on the top of the hill.

This would be when we stopped for a cappuccino at a nice little café with a view of this "beach".

Afterwards, we drove around looking for a place to eat.  Turns out on Sunday, mid-day, nothing is really open.  So we drove around the countryside for quite some time, hungry, but still admiring the amazing views and old buildings in the villages.

Finally found an open grocery store, so bought some food and came back to the villa for a late lunch and some relaxation - sun had come out by this time so we were able to enjoy lunch on the terrace.

Then we went for another little drive to explore more villages around here.  Ended up in Corridonia - another cute little Italian town built on top of a hill.  Here we saw more churches, but this time there was a wedding going on.

More great views - was able to capture a sunflower field.  There are plenty around here.  I'm waiting for a nice sunny day to get a good picture of one, but you can see one here to the right of the tower.

And finally, some interesting sculptures outside people's houses.

That last one...  I don't know.  I think it's supposed to be someone helping someone else get up, but really?

Finally, ended the day back in Macerata where we watched the World Cup final on a patio pizzeria in a piazza. Not thrilled with the final result, but it was fun to watch it here it Italy.  Sad for Messi and Aguero; happy for Cindy.

Today is another rainy day, so we're going to have a museum day.  There are supposed to be some great art museums around here.  Right now, the lady of the villa just popped in and said breakfast is ready, so I'm going to eat in the lovely breakfast room.

Day 8 - Travelling from Puglia to Le Marche

It's now Sunday morning and I'm having breakfast in this lovely room at an old monastery that has been converted to a B&B.

Well, actually, it's now Sunday afternoon.  Right after I typed that sentence, I lost internet access.

Anyway, yesterday was a long day of travel.  The drive from Puglia to Le Marche is about 5 hours, if you don't stop.  Of course, we stopped for lunch at this tacky little beach town on the sea, and then took a more scenic route part of the way, so the whole thing took us about 7,5 hours.  But we arrived at our villa outside of Macerata around 5:30 PM.  And I gotta tell you, it's kinda beautiful here too.

The villa is an old monastery at the top of a hill.

It's a very peaceful and serene location.  The terrain around here is much more hilly and agricultural.  The main production is olives, of course grapes for wine, and sunflowers.  Here's some grape vines in the vineyard that is part of our villa - Sant'Isidoro Winery.

The view from my room is spectacular.  You can see for miles...

There are nice walking pathways around the grounds...

And of course, a lovely swimming pool.

Not a private pool though, but there are only 12 rooms in this villa, and not all of them are occupied.  So, it doesn't seem very crowded,

Here's a picture of the fountain out front.

There are several small terraces where you can sit and enjoy the view and a nice glass of wine.  This is the view from one of the terraces, and it's the spot I chose for my daily selfie yesterday.

Finally, as if it's not nice enough outside, there's a beautiful old library and sitting room, which is where I am right now because that's where you need to go to access Internet - not available in the rooms unfortunately, but not too inconvenient to come and sit down here.

I think this will be a fine place to spend another week in Italy.  Plenty of ancient medieval towns on top of hills all around - we started exploring today, but it was raining, so I'll get better pictures posted in the next few days.

Day 7 - Cisternino and Ostuni

Bit of a quiet day today, since it's our last day at the trullo in Puglia.  Tomorrow we change locales and drive up to Le Marche - so this morning, we just had a leisurely breakfast and did some laundry.

But even the quiet days in Puglia, Italy are beautiful.  We decided to go for a little drive to see a few of the towns around here that we had not visited yet.  Started out in Cisternino.  Like most Italian towns, it's built on top of a hill, from which you get a great view of the valley below.

And like most towns in Italy, it claims to be the most beautiful village in Italy.  They are all so similar, and so beautiful, I think it's fair that they all make that claim.

And yes, that's me all decked out in my RedBlacks gear.  Thinking of the boys as they get ready for Game 2 in Edmonton tonight.  Go RedBlacks!!!

Cisternino follows the theme...  churches for the faithful:

Castles and forts on the top of the hill for protection:

Lovely quiet piazzas with open air patio restaurants for eating and drinking in the beautiful Italian outdoors:

...and little narrow alleyways for wandering and getting lost while admiring the bleached white walls and colourful planters.

After wandering around for a while, we headed further south to Ostuni.  Yes, this town also has a historic centre with a cathedral up on the hill and narrow streets and cobblestone roads.

First church we saw was San Francisco del Assisi.  It's off the main square as you come into town.  Beautiful old church with a statue of Saint Francis of Assisi in a niche on the façade.

The old town was built off the main square and up a hill, at the top of which you get a very nice view of the Adriatic sea.  The water is about 10 km from the town.

We stopped for lunch at a very nice restaurant right outside the main cathedral.

That's the cathedral, not the restaurant.  Had a nice local pasta dish with a great white wine from Locorotondo - Leone de Castris.  Will have to find more of that before we leave the area, because it was very good, and probably less than 10 Euros - it was only 14 Euros in the restaurant.

On the way out, I couldn't help but take a few more pictures of the narrow passage ways.

Then back at the main square or piazza, I suddenly remembered that I needed a selfie for posting on Facebook.  Took one with this pillar in the background.

Tonight we plan on going out to dinner in Martina Franca, another beautiful town nearby.  They have a Festival of Light going on, so the old town should be nicely adorned with fancy lighting.

Day 6 - Lecce

Today we took a drive down to Lecce, which is a university and cultural city known for its extensive baroque architecture.  It's often called the "Florence of the South", and I can see why.  Nice thing about it though is that it's not as big, and not nearly as crowded as Florence.

The old town is centred around the Piazza del Duomo, where you can find a beautiful old church, with an impressive bell tower that can be seen from throughout the area.

There are apparently 40 churches in a very small area, many of which look like this...

...or this...

That one, by the way, is the one I chose as the background for my selfie today.

Speaking of selfies, in case you wondering just how widely accepted this word has become in modern vocabulary...

I think that T-shirt says "Selfie who you can!", but perhaps someone who's Italian is better than mine can correct me if I'm wrong.

Not just churches in this town.  There are also some old Roman amphitheatres - at least two that we saw - and they seem to be still in use.  Both had modern looking stages and were getting ready for a show.

Other thing I noticed about this place, there a lots of book stores.  Given it's a University town, I guess that should not be too surprising.  What is surprising though is how this has influenced their fashion.

Only in Italy.

After a nice lunch in the Piazza, we headed back to the trullo for a bit of relaxation...  and of course, some blogging.

Day 5 - Adriatic Sea, Polignano A Mare and Monopoly

Bit late on my blogging - yesterday was a busy day, so today, I should be able to post twice.

The day started with a walk across the street to the "Tabachie".  We had heard that the lady there made her own wine from locally grown grapes and sells it fir 1 Euro 20...  so we had to try it.  As we're approaching her house, a car stops beside us and starts yelling out his window - something in Italian.  Only word I understood was "pesce", fish?  When he realizes we don't speak Italian, he jumps out of his car and opens his trunk.  It's full of fresh fish, squid, mussels...  he starts shucking mussels and is handing them to me.

A few minutes later, I'm walking back to the trullo with a bag full of mussels, two litres of white and one litre of red wine, all for about 8 Euros.

Then we headed off to the coast - the Adriatic Sea.  First we headed to Polignano A Mare, a sea coast tourist town with an old historic centre on the water.  Lovely strolling through the town where we saw - of course, old churches, including a very cute small church, called a "chiesetta" (church is "chiesa"), right on the sea.

The main piazza was very peaceful.  They seem to be getting ready for some big music festival this weekend.

The sea is a beautiful blue colour; the town has balconies that allow you to watch the waves crashing into the cliffs below.  One of these balconies is where I took my daily selfie today.

...and of course, beaches?

Then we headed down the coast a bit to another coastal town called Monopoly - nothing to do with the board game.

This town is a port town on the water, with an old historic centre, with old churches....  am I starting to sound repetitive?  There's a theme to these old Italian towns, but they are all beautiful.

Here we found a lovely little restaurant overlooking the sea, where we had very nice fresh fish.  This place had been recommended by my friend Neil, and I'm glad we found it.

Here's a few shots I took while sitting there enjoying a lovely grilled fish.

More water crashing into the rocks and the obligatory beach.

Then we proceeded to stroll through the old historic centre, where we found the old churches...

...but this time, a fort castle.  Being a port city, I guess it had to be defended, so there's this castle right on the water.

Like many Italian towns, the locals adorn their stairways and walls with beautiful colourful flowers.

Finally, we headed back to the trullo where we were going to try the pizza oven.  We picked up the groceries we needed to make scrumptious Italian pizza - this one is before it went in the oven.

We cooked them in this built in pizza oven that is part of the trullo.

Did it work?  Let's just say that I have developed an entire new admiration for the people who do this for a living.  It's definitely not as easy as it looks.  It still made for a very enjoyable dinner on a lovely evening.

And the mussels were delicious.