h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, actually I've written two journal entries since I got back, but here's a summary:

Everything went exactly as planned. That is always reassuring, if a little boring.

Flights, hotels, car hire, the lot.

We flew to Bari, which is on the South East coast of Italy, right at the bottom, just above Brindisi. We spent the first few days just inland from Bari, at Casamassima. From there we could get to loads of interesting places, and the hotel manager always gave us maps and told us where to park.

The place names are so lovely down there: Polignano, Monopoli, Locorotondo, Alberobello, Gioia, Tricase, Fasano - all invoking idyllic countryside and rural atmosphere. This was the case, too mostly.

Alberobello was our first outing. This is a whole village built of trulli - the local round houses with little conical roofs. It has a unique character and some of the trulli are open for viewing as museums, showing the everyday items of the people who lived in them. They were built and in use from the 15th to the 18th century as shelters for the people and animals. One trullo was really big - inside it was the church with very modern decoration. Another actually went into two storeys - this was where the Bishop lived.

http://www.ostunithewhitecity.com/puglia/alberobello.htm


We visited Matera, which is a UNESCO protected village, a whole valley - or rather a gorge - where the original housing was in caves in the side of the hills. The last cave-dwellers were (reluctantly) evacuated in 1968. Now some of the caves are being fitted with mod cons and used as quaint country houses by rich people. The inhabited rocks merge into the uninhabited rocks, and the natural appearance of the whole valley and its use of the lay of the land is the reason it is protected and is so unique.

Ostuni is a charming little Baroque town, all on a hill.

Otranto is a port, looking on to the beautiful blue sea, with an 11th Century cathedral, whose entire floor is a large mosaic showing the history of the old testament and lots of other symbolic pictures.

http://www.hull.ac.uk/languages/research/medieval.html

Of course, we visited Bari, too, which is a port and a fortified castle, as well as being the place where St Nicholas is buried. He gets around, does old Nick. Anyone who's been to Greece will have encountered him as the patron saint of loads of churches and of fishermen, he is a big number in Russia, and, of course, he is the patron saint of children and is the origin of Santa Claus. The Basilica San Nicola is really peaceful and has a wonderful atmosphere. The crypt, where the remains of the saint are buried, is Orthodox, and while we were there, a priest was chanting in (we think) Russian, and it seems a constant vigil is kept over the tomb.

Lecce is a Renaissance town, rich in ornamental church facades. Here we saw some big city atmosphere, mainly in the form of beggars, and other signs of poverty.

Gallipoli is another fortified port with lots of tiny, narrow streets and people's washing standing outside the doors.

Then, of course, there are endless caves - only the best-known one (Castellana) has cafés, restaurants and souvenir shops set up around the entrance - the others are simple holes which you are shown through by a wizened old local chappie. At this time of year, my husband and I were frequently the only visitors - making a group of 2!

Even in Bari, the towns were mainly just used for living in, and the old town centres (usually signposted as "centro storico")there was little to do but look at the Churches. You passed dwelling after dwelling, the kitchen doors wide open to the street, and very few places where you could stop for a coffee or a meal.

When we did find restaurants, the food was very good and not too dear. The wines, of course were out of this world.

We didn't actually choose to go to expensive hotels, and had fairly simple accommodation, but adequate and clean. In fact, there didn't seem to be many hotels above *** level at all.

It was too cool and windy to bathe in the sea in October, except on beaches protected from the wind. The light and the landscape are very striking (possibly the time of year).

There was an incredible amount of rubbish on the beaches and in the streets.

The people were usually quite nice, but they have a long way to go before the area can really take on tourists.

The peninsula is fairly mountainous and you keep losing radio stations as you travel around in a car. On the East coast it can easily happen that you find yourself listening to a Greek or an Albanian station. But the music was the same everywhere!

TC - you seem to have had a lovely time and your descriptions are neat.

'There was an incredible amount of rubbish on the beaches and in the streets.' Was that overall or in one particular part?

How long were you there for?

I have fancied ~Italy for the family holiday, but its so dear. Maybe I should try further south ?

we've only spent odd days or three in Italy - but it's a great place for families. It sounds like a cliché but they really do treat children like people, and seem to realise that different aged people need/want different things.

If only, as you say it wasn't so flippin' expensive.

TC - that sounds lovely - are you thinking of guide entries on any of it? (trulli, cave dwellers...)

I've never been to Italy, but t can't be more expensive than England surely?

I've spent some very odd days in Italy.

It wasn't particularly expensive, but not particularly cheap either, compared to UK.

RF

well I find the UK very very expensive for most things. More expensive than Italy, it has to be said. (mind you, the last but one time I was there I was in Venice... say no more)

I imagine Venice to be quite expensive - as all of the other tourist areas in Italy.

quite expensive would be even overdoing the British Understatement (TM) thing!

We did the whole holiday, (flights, accommodation, pocket money, all food, car hire and petrol) for under 2000 Euros for 10 days. We were quite satisfied with the hotel accommodation, considering we paid 30-35 Euros per head per night, and the most expensive meal (but also one of the very best) we had was 50 Euros for the two of us. The cheapest was something like 24 Euros in a supermarket canteen - quantity and quality were extremely satisfactory there. In the second hotel we stayed we could have saved even more by committing ourselves to an evening meal in the hotel and only having to pay 10 euros more on the room for that. We ate there once - it was very good and the service was impeccable.

"Expensive" is the last thing that I would use to describe the holiday. If we'd been able to spend half the time lounging on beaches, it would probably have been even cheaper.

But the area is definitely not attuned to tourists, and is obviously not used to them. The majority of visitors (in season) are Italian holidaymakers, I would guess, although there were a few

Forgot to mention the example I was going to give: a postcard usually costs 70 cents- 1 euro elsewhere. In Puglia they were charging 20-30 cents. don't tell them.

The villa hire seems to run out about 800 euros more than Greece, Spain or Portugal, and then the flights are dearer.