Day 28 Thursday 12 September

An easy start as my darned cold is really getting no better and the hard beds and thin bedding are making for an unsettled night.  Vern is still not over his cold but doing a lot better, certainly on the other side. Strangely by the end of the day I feel better, but after a night I get worse with coloured mucous and big coughing sessions.  I have also got horribly behind on the blogs, so need to get myself caught up whilst I remember things.

Breakfast was delivered with the usual cheer, but a bit later this morning and it was not as elaborate.  I think Marielle had a busy night last night, so hope she ups it again tomorrow for us LOL.  Again it is so nice to have great hosts.  I finished a couple of blogs and Vern caught up on washing before we headed out at 2:00 for Locorotondo – a hill town in the same valley inbetween Cisternino and Alberobello.  

We are still managing a safe travel for which we are very thankful for, and it was not long (30 minutes) before we were skilfully parking the car, buying a parking ticket and walking up into the old city.  Locorotondo is a lot bigger than Cisternino, and whilst both are white towns and similar Locorotondo has its own character and is probably a bit flasher – even in old town terms. 

Bright red and purple climbing jasmine are in abundance and ceramic pots with an assortment of greenery line the streets, houses and courtyards. Because it is so dry here, they have pointed roofs to catch every drop which is a unique feature of Locorotondo.

We thoroughly enjoyed its beauty but were disappointed to miss out on lunch and the butchers grilled meats … arriving right when the kitchen closes at 3pm.  Sounds late, but we don’t get breakfast till just before 9am, so lunch is around 2pm for us … then there is the travel, parking outside the old town, and walking up hills to get into town. 

This part of Italy definitely closes at 12:00 for siesta and doesn’t open up till about 4:30 so shopping is not an option either.  We were not too worried as our breakfasts are so substantial so we found a coffee and a nice pastry – not as good as yesterday but still very edible, and then headed home via Monopoli, which is another seaside town 15 minutes from our home base. (Photo below still Locorotondo)

Monopoli is a pleasant surprise – bigger than Polignano and instead of a beach in the middle of town there are castle ruins and a quaint old port.  We found a great swimming beach on the side of old town, but it was a bit late in the day to swim, so we will return and make it our outing tomorrow when the peak of heat is out.  It was about 5:30pm when we arrived and I needed a comfort stop so we found a cafe to sort that, buy a cool drink and book a dinner table – being genuinely hungry by then too.

When searching on Trip Advisor they have some places you can book to eat at through them that offer discounts of up to 20%.  We tried this and were also delighted to find somewhere open at 6pm, instead of 8pm which is usual Italian opening time.  The bistro we chose was well reviewed as well, and our meal lived up to the recommendations. We also got the best service so far in southern Italy which was worth the 5* rating I gave them. 

Our pleasant meal included broad beans with fried capsicum and a grilled squid with aubergine and cheese for starters.  A point of different to just a basket of bread (which the charge you a cover price for) was tiny ham sandwiches and cheese rings (a round cheesy pastry), and also complimentary crudités of carrot, cucumber and melon with our first dishes.

We then shared Puglia veal meatballs in a tomato sauce with toast, and a side of roasted potatoes.  The meatballs were actually rolls of schnitzel stuffed with cheese or seasoned stuffing, shaped into a ball.  They seem to have a thing about rolling meat around cheese here… similar to the pork dish in Matera.  It was very nice, tender and not dry.  Washed down with local red wine, was a good finish to the day. Interesting police station.

It is our last day in Polignano tomorrow and on our agenda was to visit Ostuni, which is an hours drive away.  It is known as the white city, but we feel a little white citied out (we have two more on the next leg as well) and will have a quiet day, blog, go to Monopoli for an explore and swim and hopefully kick this cold out of here – its really nasty and I am totally over it.  Vern is just about better, so I think I have a couple more days before I am free of it.