Puglia Socks Down

Parts 1 to 5

We finally got to bed very late, and the morning came way too quickly. I walked Manu to her airport bus stop at 4.30am, while Dublin still partied.

We sadly parted, not expecting to see each other for at least twelve months.*

Manu and I had had an amazing time together in Brussels, Brighton and Ireland, we really enjoyed so many beautiful moments together, great conversations, laughs, walks, and of course, loads of great jams.

As usual, it was really hard to say goodbye.

This is a map of where we travelled together.

I walked back to our guest house and tearily returned to bed, and after sleeping for nowhere near long enough, I rose again, just like Jesus.

The lucky ones were asleep

Don't ever ask an Irishman to count.

No wonder people came up with jokes like these:

How do you confuse an Irishman?

Show him three shovels and tell him to take his pick.

Or

Put him in a round room and tell him to piss in the corner.

Leaving the island of Ireland, crossing the Irish Sea, and leaving the Irish jokes way behind.

I can see the phew from here.

I closed my eyes, and when they opened, we were flying above the backbone of Italy, over the Appenine Range, which stretches for about 1200km, lengthwise, along that stylish Italian boot, right down to its pointy southern toe, and then on to the stone it's about to trip up on, the island of Sicily.

Yeah I rotated it, didn't I.

Michael and I were flying in to Napoli, and were planning a trip along the stiletto, on the Adriatic coast.

*But there's to be a twist in that tale.

Benvenuto A Napoli!

Like a flash, we were in amongst it.

We jumped in a car that Michael had hired for the occasion, and took the back roads to get to a (relatively) cheap little apartment I'd rented, in a rundown and super interesting part of Naples, very near the coast, and southeast of the city centre.

It was hot, and the place was a bit messy.

It ain't Northern Europe mate. No way Pompeii.

Our cobblestone street.

The view towards the street from our courtyard.

Way way flashier on the inside than the outside.

And I'm not talking about our accomodation either.

We gutsed out for a bit, and then had a siesta, like every other person in the whole city.

The view from our balcony.

We went for a stroll to the beach.

Then we headed to the train station to take the metro in to the city. We didn't buy a ticket. There were no ticket machines, and no staff anywhere to be seen, not even at the city end.

Napoli's a grand old city. The outskirts are messy, with crumbling infrastructure wherever you look, overgrown or vacant land that's seen way better days, and  suburb after suburb of three storey apartments that haven't been painted in an eternity.

But that just gives it loads of character.

Piazza Duomo

Fontana del Nettuno (Neptune's Fountain)

Piazza Municipio

Castel Nuovo (New Castle). Wonder what the old one looks like.

Part of the magnificent Galleria Umberto I

At Piazza del Plebiscito, looking onto the beautiful Basilica Reale Pontificia San Francesco da Paola. Try saying all that with a mouthful of spaghetti.

In case you were wondering, a basilica is a public building which predates Christianity, and was often used in some sort of royal capacity. Some basilicas later became churches or cathedrals.

We headed towards the coast again, and sat down for food. It was amazingly good. It felt so great to be in Italy again, it's really got an amazing vibe, especially in summer. And, of course, it's amazing to be here with Michaelio, mio caro caro amico.

It was a Saturday night, and the balmy streets were pumping with people of all shapes and sizes, not least by a million teenagers, all out catwalking with their friends.

Michael lookin' for action

The trains weren't running on the way back, for some unknown reason. And not because we'd missed the last one. Of course, there was no way of finding out what the hell was going on, so we cabbed it. It was surprisingly cheap.

Home sweet home.

The next morn Michael had a dip in the ocean, and as he walked back along the beach he noticed an old rusty pipe with black sludge pouring into the bay where he'd just been swimming.

Lucky him.

Local mussels and other seafood. Great if you're into heavy metals.

Across The Boot

A friend of Michael's had suggested we head for the Adriatic coast, roughly east across the boot, so after a leisurely coffee and brekky we headed off.

Our rusk-ic spread

We squeezed through narrow village streets, on our way across a skinny part of the country.

Small coffee house somewhere, full of locals.

90c for a coffee, 80c for a croissant. Yep, these places still exist way out here.

There was even some forest

The Apennines, from the ground up.

Benvenuti a Benevento!

We stopped at a town Michael knew, Benevento, which means, "good wind."

That was before our garlic lunch.

According to mythology, Benevento was founded by the Greek hero Diomedes, after his exploits in the Trojan War. The town has some incredible ancient architectural masterpieces.

It also has a bishop

We parked up, and went a-wanderin.'

The Arch of Trajan, constructed in 114, is one of the best preserved Roman structures in the whole region. It was named after the famous Roman Emperor of the same name, who built major roads and other infrastructure in the area during his reign.

Ancient art

The town was as dead as a floornail, which is way deader than a doornail, which gets to at least move every now and then.

But we found a place to have a delicious lunch anyway.

It's so good to have so many vegetarian options again, after the extremely slim pickings of Central Asia.

The higher hills.

We went to an amazing Roman amphitheatre, which was inaugurated sometime early in the 2nd Century AD.

There were lots of bits and pieces lying about. Ancient carved and inscribed stones are a lire-a-dozen around these parts.

With his money? What, the money he either pillaged from the local peasants, or stole from the treasuries of other kingdoms? Interesting way to look at it.

I guess nothing much has changed, when I think about it.

Whadda you think about all that, Mazza?

To The Coast

After our delicious lunch, we eventually headed on, in the blistering summer heat, diagonally down towards the east coast.

Very Oz-looking

Even got bushfires

Ancient olive grove

We bypassed towns like these

Stone fruits

Ancient trulli, traditional conical buildings. We'll see lots more of those later on.

Monopoli

Eventually we reached our destination, Monopoli, which Michael's friend had suggested we visit.

We arrived somewhere west of the centre of town, and found a small guesthouse, but they didn't have any rooms. The area was, well, sorta nothing special, just oldish residential apartments, although it wasn't too far from the beach.

But then we headed further in, towards the centre of town, parked up, and went a-strollin.' Suddenly it was magnificent.

Like most Italian towns and cities, Monopoli has a hugely long and varied history - of prosperity, siege, takeover, and decline.

Even though it was settled way back in 500BC, the area became prominent in the early 100's, when Emperor Trajan developed major roads there, including the Via Traiana, one of the most important roads of the Roman Empire. The road connected Rome with the port of Brindisi, and the Adriatic Coast, which allowed relatively quick onward travel to the eastern Empire, and was shorter than the earlier version, the Via Appia, or Appian Way.

Monopoli was ruled by various groups including the Byzantines, the Normans, and even the Hohenstaufen, a kingdom originating from the Schwabian part of southwestern Germany. At the height of its splendour, the city was a point of departure for naval expeditions during the Crusades.

In the late 1400s it came under Venetian rule, and flourished. But it kept getting attacked by Muslims, so major fortifications were built along its sea walls. The Spanish also kept attacking it, and it eventually fell.

These days the only Spanish there are tourists, and, I've gotta say, they're not the only ones. There's tourists there of all colours and flavours, but they're mainly Italian.

Our first glimpses of the Storico Centro, the historical centre of the town.

We found somewhere to sit and drink Apero Spritz, the best pre-dinner drink known to womankind, and to mankind even, and ordered a dish with stunningly good cheeses and salady thingies.

But way too many meats for my liking.

The summer hordes were out'n'about

Eventually we thought we'd better organise somewhere to stay, as it was nearly dark, so we found a place online, and had to wait forever for the woman to turn up to let us in.

It was fab though.

Our little spot for a few nights. Lucky aren't we. Michael generously put in the lion's share of the funds for it, because Michael's just a sweet generous guy isn't he, as you would well know by now if you've been reading previous tales of my vagabonding.

The next morn we went off to explore this amazing town, and, I gotta say, we were gobsmacked at its immense beauty.

And gobsmacked at the quality of its cuisine as well.

Needs a coffee. But of course there was a coffee machine, and shitloads of coffee to put in it.

Michael went out to get us some brekky, and then made me a coffee that was so strong that my heart popped out of its holder, and I had to manually put it back in, whilst trying to remain calm.

We checked out the Basilica Cattedrale Madonna Della Madia, the main cathedral in the town.

It was unbelievable.

The square outside

Then we strolled to the beach

Pretty nice innit

Old city walls, built by the Spanish in 1545, who ruled Monopoli at the time.

Superman was there

After the obligatory siesta, we wandered into the best fine foods store in history

Buon appetito!

Yes, it's mannequins modeling kids underwear. Go figure.

A ripper of a gum tree right in the centre of town

Glorious moon

The place is even more stunning in the eve, if that's at all possible.

We heard music, and stumbled upon a superb free summer concert, featuring an amazing female vocalist and an orchestra. It's so incredible to see and hear such beautiful music in a setting like this.

Southern Europe in summer is something else, I gotta tell ya

A wonderful concert in aid of the ANPI, an anti-fascist organisation founded by partisans fighting against Mussolini during WWII.

They've got a lot of work to do these days.

The band were playing amazing music, pretty much all based on northern African, Turkish or Persian scales.

The flautist was killing it.

In the best way of course.

We ate, and eventually wandered back to the ranch, totally blown away by our day in this Paradise.

Stilettoing

We headed off exploring in the car the next day, down the coast.

Pretty soon we were in the hills above Monopoli, and came across some beautiful old olive groves. They were everywhere.

Whilst I posed for this pic, an olive farmer, Tomasio, drove past, turned around, and offered to show us some giant olive trees on his property. So sweet.

He gave us piles of fresh carob from his tree too. It was delicious.

Tomasio's humble abode. He invited us in for a shandy, a beer with lemonade, known as a bicicletta, or bicycle, in Italy.

After chatting for awhile we gratefully headed off, towards an incredible UNESCO World Heritage town called Alberobello, famous for its unique trulli, amazing conical shaped traditional buildings.

The houses were originally built in the 1600s with mortar-less dry walls, because it enabled the local residents to avoid paying taxes to the Spanish Viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples at the time, as they weren't regarded as proper houses, and could be relatively easily removed if necessary.

Over time the style became a tradition, which still lasts today, although a lot of the older trulli have been renovated and turned into guesthouses for tourists.

A view of the centre of town

Trulli amazing

We strolled into town and had the best ice coffee known to humans, the temperature was super super hot, and there were loads of red-faced and overcooked tourists.

The whole town was beautiful, not just the trulli bits.

Stands with lights, for an evening procession

Eventually we headed back into the hills.

Michael had a dip on the way, while I siesta-ed in the car and splashed around afterwards.

Lecce

We made our way to the second largest city in Puglia (or Apulia) Province, Lecce, which is famous for its Baroque architecture, and looks real pretty. Italians call Lecce the "Florence of the South," as Florence also has a stack of amazing Baroque-era architecture, amongst its many Renaissance and other jewels.

We found a park close to one edge of the storico centro and headed in. It was siesta time, and the place was dead.

Having siestas is big in this part of the world. Shops and offices close around 1 or 1.30pm, and reopen around 5-ish. I love it, especially if I can sleep too.

Ceramic balloons

One of the many beautiful churches in town

Balancing bishop

We went to the best gelateria and pasticceria, and had giant icecreams. When I was a kid, our kitchener buns never had this much cream.

Friends for life

Keeps the devil away

Sheer magnificence

Shiny cool cobblestone

Aaah, nostalgia. My first car was one of these.

Eventually we moseyed back to Monopoli, and in the eve we went out again, to get amongst it.

Negronis. Mmmmmm.

We were so late we missed all the food, and ended up in a cool bar instead.

We chatted like old friends.

More nostalgia. I used to use razor blades like these once upon a time. To actually shave with, no less.

A bee tried to sting us, but we got away

The place was pretty packed, and we were the oldest people there.

By a factor of about 3.

Trying to get my bearings

Luckily, despite the lateness of the hour, we found some pizza in a takeaway joint, served by a couple of young locals keen to practice their English. They were so friendly.

Polignano A Mare

But alas, ahimé, it was time for us to leave Monopoli, and slowly head back to the other poli, Napoli. Joys such as these can't last forever, otherwise it would get boring.

Actually, no it wouldn't, I'm just saying that to try and make myself feel better.

One the way we visited an amazingly beautiful town on the coast, for a swim.

Polignano A Mare, or Polygamy By The Sea, as I like to call it, is yet another stunning whitewashed village on the Italian Adriatic coast.

Ho hum.

This Great Gatsby looks like a used Fiat salesman

Oleander trees. Never seen them this big before.

It was hot, and water always does the trick

Michael trying to blend in, in his Oz bushwhacking clobber

Daily life in the newer part of town

The beach was a pearler

We had to slide through slippery tunnels to get there

People are so dense around here

Some local bravehearts were jumping off the high cliffs. Everyone watched, ooohed and aaaahed, and cheered when they safely reappeared in the water. It was pretty funny.

Geronissimo!!!

Ooooooooouch!

Everyone broke into applause.

Also, notice the formation of three small stationary UFOs in each of those pics. Aliens like beaches in summer too.

We strolled through the beautiful old part of town

Wouldn't catch me jumping from here

Eventually we choofed off, and, as it was getting late, took the highway back, something we've pretty much avoided the whole time we've been in Italy.

Scrub fire

My middle finger accidentally pointed upwards whilst devouring this delicious arancini, an Italian rice ball. Maybe I'd just been picking my nose, I can't remember.

The food's divine everywhere here, even in servos.

Mt Vesuvius, as we cruised back into Napoli.

One Last Night

Michael and I went for one final meal together in Napoli, eating in a trattoria not far from our little guest house up on a hill overlooking part of the city.

Our kitschy bathroom

Strolling up the hill

The trattoria was totally old school, but the prices were very much new university

The mozzarella buffala was unbelievably good though.

Buffaloes are so uselful.

Napoli drivers are uncontrollable rats. They're notoriously impatient, and every single car seems to have dings all over it.

There was Catholic royalty hanging out up the hill

Another Vesuvius view

The shrine at our guest house

More Sad Goodbyes

We got up at sparrows, and returned our hire car to the airport in time for our early flights.

Final brekky.

Don't worry, it wasn't Maccas, we would never need to stoop that low in this country.

I said goodbye to Michael, as his flight left first. We'd had an absolutely incredible time together for the past  10 days, and it was really sad to see him go.

We get on like a house on fire, partly because our hearts are pretty much always burning with joy when we hang out.

There are three things certain in life - death, taxes, and having a ball with Michael.

The trouble is, we're in different continents these days.

The Twist

Michael flew off.

The airport screen told me my flight was delayed by 30 minutes, and then shortly afterwards the delay was extended to one hour. And then my flight just disappeared from the Departures screen altogether, with no announcement.

Thanks for that guys.

After a long search through the departure lounge for airline staff, so I could find out what the beGesù was going on, I finally discovered that, actually, my flight had just been cancelled.

Just like that.

Which means I would miss my two connecting flights back to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.

As I'd booked my flight through an online external booking agency, I couldn't deal directly with the airline, and my booking agency offered me another flight combination, for a fee.

I paid the fee, got the new booking, but then a couple of hours later the first leg of that flight was also cancelled.

Shit.

Rather than have to fork out even more cash the only thing I could really do was to cancel the whole flight combination, and apply for a refund (not a cent of which has been paid yet, I might add).

Well there ya go.

My plot just thickened.

I'm now stuck in Napoli, a long long way from my bicycle.

I guess it's time for me to go back to the drawing board❤️

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