Puglia!

Much has happened since our last blog...here is a condensed story of our last two weeks.

We drove down to Puglia. If Italy is shaped like a boot, Puglia is the heel. It was a long ride...



We arrived in Bari after 6 or 7 hours speeding down the Italian autostrada (at speeds I won't mention). They were rewarded with a nice hotel with a fantastic pool.



These guys snorkel and catch octopus by hand, right off the harbor downtown Bari. They have to beat them to soften them so they aren't too chewy.





The patron saint of Bari is St Nicolas. As in Santa Claus...
There is a beautiful church where (parts) of his body is in a crypt. The church dates to the 11th century.



Here he is...Where's the red suit and jelly belly?





WE met up with friends and hit this great restaurant right on the water.



Here's Roxy, Lulu and Felix.



Our destination was San Dana. A tiny town right at the bottom of the heel. We stayed in a simple but quite old house.



Taking a dip in the Ionian sea with Deedee, Horton, and Roxy.



They still have bands that parade through the villages. A great tradition that is being kept alive by surprisingly young band members.



Puglia is a long peninsula with the Ionian Sea on one side and the Adriatic on the other. On the Adriatic grottos are everywhere. Some you can swim into, other walk into.



Look closely for Nina and Felix taking the plunge.



There were many great places to take a dip in the Adriatic.



Notice the guy jumping into the water over a grotto. Felix was brave and made some very high jumps into the deep water.



And we saw one crazy guy jump into the water from the bridge.



Here is a video of the insane plunge:




In San Dana there is a ancient cave that had these frescoes of Saint Apolonia. History is absolutely everywhere in Italy.





A morbid chapel in Otranto...yes they are skulls!



We found this amazing beach called Turkish Bay.



Santa Maria de Leuca is the very bottom of Puglia, where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet.



Felix scales a grotto near Santa Maria.



FELIX TURNS 10! That's double digits, baby! A lovely Italian woman in San Dana made this cake for him.



On the way back to Umbria, we overnighted in Alberobello. It's famous for its trulli, these strange structures that look as if they were made for elves.





They make a surreal skyline.



They are capped by different magical symbols.





And the doors are tiny!





The following day we stopped at the amazing Castellano caves. It's the biggest network of caves in Italy.








Try to see the people in the lower left corner for scale. This cave chamber is huge.





Once again on the autostrada. The highway was getting to Lulu, as this self-portrait shows.



And thankfully we were on the right side of the highway. This went on for miles!



Next stop ROME!