Bari

September 7th

After Campania we thought we would really get off the beaten track and so we headed for Puglia. In particular we went for Bari. No real reason: the regional capital is supposed to be noisy and cramped with traffic, but we had to head somewhere and the Eurostar train across country did take three hours, and the only train left just outside Napoli around two in the afternoon. So to Bari we headed. Bari is a shite place to turn up to when it is nearly seven in the evening after your train is delayed, it is raining, and you can't find a hotel. Having said that the place did grow on us. The hotel was average, but the meal we had in the evening was excellent. And the town, when we finally got around to having a wander around, is quite pleasant. I wouldn't be rushng back though.

Lecce

September 8th to 11th

The next day, after our experience with hotel finding in Bari, Hal rang ahead to Lecce to get the bed and breakfast booked. Having achieved that we took a local train down to this city, described as the Florence of the south due to its architecture and university.

Sorry. Rant mode. Italians are some of the most inconsiderate people with absolutely no idea of a service culture. They are unhelpful and lazy frankly. And there is nothing worse than spending hard-earned euros -- well getting my US dollars transferred into Euros via pounds took a lot of effort -- into train tickets that are invariably not checked. We could probably count the number of helpful Italians on one hand. Sorry.

The B&B was great and the owner extremely helpful. Not only did it cost us under budget and our room had a vaulted ceiling typical of the cities palazzos, it had free wireless internet that resulted in a rash of early September emails. Lecce itself is flat, unhurried and quite amazing. Half an ampitheatre was uncovered in the centre of town in the 30's, the buildings are all made out of the local stone and have fantastic facades, and there is also a pillar with a bishop on the top. Apparently some dude from Lecce cured Brindisi of the plague in 1666, and as thanks they gave one of the pillars that marked the end of the Via Appia from Rome, the major Roman arterial to the coast and the port of Brindisi. They of course put a copy of said dude, now Saint Numnuts, on top of the post in the middle of town. Also of interest was the Basilica. Marchese Grimaldi said the facade made him think of a lunatic having a nightmare. The local stone apparently when quarried is quite malleable but hardens soon after. Carving is then quite the rage. (Of course the Saint wasn't called "Numnuts" but what do you care?)

Otranto

September 10th

For my mum's birthday we made a quick trip south to Otranto. Located on the coast this small town is a seaside resort and a perfect place to go swimming in the cleaner part of the Adriatic. That was fun (despite the school of small fish who decided to snack on my foot - Hal). The train journey took us down through acre upon acre of olive "groves", beyond what you would think, peppered with round stone buildings and stone fences. That was also fun. And the Cathedral, first built by the Normans, has a trippy mosaic on the floor including King Arthur and Diana and monkeys alongside Jesus and co, made in the 12th century. Definitely fun! The church also contains the skulls of some of the 800 people martyred or executed if you will by Turks in 1480 when they didn't renounce their Christian faith. Fu...

Martina Franca

September 11th to 13th

Next stop was Martina Franca in the heart of Trulli country. (I'll include in this section our brief day trips to Alberobello and Locorotondo because having a separate section is simply getting silly.) Martina Franca came recommended for it's wonderful public piazzas which encourage a fabulous passagiata. They were okay. I was more impressed with the Cafe Tripoli that we found. Opened when Italy finally got around to conquering someone, namely Libya of course, after becoming a new Kingdom, the Cafe is a cute, little affair, that belies my overuse of commas in this sentence. The really cool bit about it was that one of the Lavazza advertising pictures was shot here. You know the one. Anyway I was impressed having not visited a Lavazza photo shoot location before. I was disappointed that the lady subject of the commercial wasn't there. I wanted to ask how she managed to keep her pneumatic breasts up. Hal probably wasn't as excited as she doesn't drink coffee. That must be the reason.

The day tripping to the Trulli towns was also interesting. A Trullo is a conical house made out of stone, with no known influence that caused them to be built there. Speculation is that taxes on houses were higher than the locals could afford, hence they built houses out of stone without mortar so they could be scattered when the tax collectors came by, and "easily" reassembled. There is evidence of the houses all over the region, but the real concentration doesn't come until you hit Alberobello. Now completely touristy, it is still a fascinating place.

Taranto

September 13th to 15th

Yep, you guessed it. Train to Taranto. On the coast this city used to be a Greek settlement of over 300,000 people. Less people reside there today. It is a fishing port and the second home of the Italian navy after La Spezia near the Cinque Terre. That shows how far we've travelled. We got in lateish, felt crap and crashed in our cheap hotel. We hardly explored the town beyond noting the castle now in naval hands, the island formed by two channels into the local lagoon, the scruffy old town, the pleasant new town, and the two pillars that are the only remains of the Temple of Poseidon. We spent the middle day exploring elsewhere and the last day leaving early to get to a place in the west of Basilicata. Can't say we really did the place justice. The other place we visited inbetween? You'll have to check the next section. I can't be bothered typing it at the moment.

Oh, one thing we did see was our first traffic accident (the kid coming off his bike in Norcia doesn't really count). Two young guys on a scooter smacked into the side of a small car on an uncontrolled intersection. After they managed to pick themselves up the expected arguement ensued with much gesticulation. All very impressive and drawing a solid crowd. What impressed us the most was their ability to walk away, given that neither was wearing a helmet. We also saw on our way back to Taranto our first funeral motorcade, with young wife being supported in the middle. We'll leave it to your imagination the cause of death; we didn't think too hard of what it might have been.

Summary

Rating time! So again here are my purely scientifically fictional and mathematically circumscribed ratings of each town: