A Little Getaway to Puglia - Part 2

Let's continue on our adventure to Puglia...I know last time I said that we would move on to S.Maria di Leuca and Gallipoli but I wanted to take a quick side-trip to Otranto. It's on the way down and around to the other two. I found a map that kind-of traces part of our journey...

The arrows are definitely off but the loop is pretty accurate.
Otranto is beautiful little city on the Adriatic Sea known for it's tourism and at one time famous breeding horses (but we saw no evidence of that). It is the eastern most city in Italy. One of the other things that's very pretty about Otranto is that you can watch Albania while having lunch.

Simply it was a beautiful city with a cute castle and (of course) a great lunch!


An amazing view of the inlet...

As part of our walkabout we went into Castello Aragonese. It was not the best castle Tom & I have ever visited. It was kind-of empty.

There was a small exhibit of the art of Gino Marotta (an artist and film director of Italian fame).
Most of the items were so over the top I am not even going to include them here. I would rather show you the views and the creepy fun church.
One of the main cathedrals in the town held the bones of 800 Christain martyrs beheaded by the Turks when they invaded in 1480. Here it is...

Ok, let's go to lunch...
We sat aside the amazing Adriatic Sea and had a wonderful lunch. The food was delicious and the view...well I'll let Tom's face say it all...

The place was also decorated with beautiful handmade quilts. It gave me a few ideas...

All quilts...

handmade by...

the owner!

Now off to St. Maria di Leuca...the southern most point in the region!
It was a beautiful coastal drive along the water. Quiet, peaceful and so many different blues in the water.

Angels leading you to the lighthouse

The beautiful coastline...

With a small church...

Tom entering the church

& Pope Benedict

Tiny little place with some street vendors, the church and a gelato shop! Typical Italian town...heehee
After walking around and exploring we headed off to Galipoli a small town on the west coast of the heel on the Ionian Sea. The city is split into two sections - the modern city and the old city. We explored the old city...

A cute little beach...

and a castle!

The town was a walking town. The only road was on the outside around the town - all the inner streets were pedestrian only. There were many lovely little churches with paintings, statues and fresco's but the best part of this day was the amazing sunset...

Going...

going...

gone!

After sunset we headed back to Lecce for dinner and a nice cocktail.
In our next installment I will finish up our trip to Puglia with our visit to a Masseria (old olive/wine producing estate) and Alberobello a great little town with funny gnome houses called Trulli's.

On the home-front things are great!
We are in the middle of visitor season - my cousin Pat and her friend Eileen came to stay with us for a few days after their booked tour of Italy. We had a great time and it was wonderful getting to know my cousin better. We did a little touring of Rome but on the weekend we headed out to Castel Gondolfo (the Popes summer residence), Frascati, and before they left...the night tour of Rome!


The view from lunch - Lake Albano from Castel Gandolfo...

Pat & Eileen at the Eden Hotel!

...at Castel Gondolfo...

Nighttime at the Trevi...

and the Colosseo!

Next visitor is Angi then Diane & Bill...
Lots of things planned - with Angi, we will be visiting James & Greg in Berlin & with Diane & Bill we are going to Sorrento...
Great but busy times for the next few weeks. I warn everybody now that I probably will not be posting the blog for about 2 weeks.

Lastly, the garden! Everything is growing like crazy - take a look...

About 50 tomatoes already...

My hot pepeers starting to flower...

As always we wish all our friends and family much happiness and health!
We love you all!
Abbracci a tutti!
Ron & Tom

A Little Getaway to Puglia - Part 1

Wow! (Pero!)
Amazing! (Stupefacente!)
Beautiful! (Bello!)

These are just a few English and Italian words that don't even come close to describing our latest adventure. Due to a few well placed Italain holidays, Tom had the chance to get away from work for about a week. We decided to take a trip to the heel of the Italian boot - a region known as Puglia!

I figured I would add some maps to give you the area where we were. It's hard to fully describe the area, the city, the food, the crafts, the people and the outstanding colors.
We stayed in a lovely little city called Lecce. We found it to be an amazing place to - it was nicely located to be able to visit many of the other amazing cities in the 'heel region'. We were lucky enough to travel to Otranto, S. Maria di Leuca, Gallipoli, Cutrofiano, Alberobello and many little towns along our coastal adventure. We did so much and took so many pictures (totalling 850) this posting is going to split up into multiple parts. Here in Part 1 we will visit Lecce (Homebase). At the end of this posting I will give everybody an update on Home-n-Hearth and upcoming destinations.

The drive from Rome to Lecce took about 5 hours by car - a long time in a car but it went very quickly. It is one of the many breathtaking drives you can take in Italy. Once out of the city limits of Rome you start driving in Italian countryside. Before long the countryside turned into miles and miles of farms - growing olives, grapes and artichokes. Along with the produce - wildflowers grew all along the roadside and in many unplanted fields. The vibrant color patches of bright red, sunshine yellow and a deep violet popped in the lush green background. Truly a sight to see!
Our first stop and our home base - Lecce! Lecce is the second largest city by population in the Puglia region. It is considered the main city in the Salentine Peninsula (the southern sub-peninsula of the heel) and known as the 'Florence of the south'. It is rich in Baroque architecture and maintains a strong Greek influence. The main industry in the area is 'Lecce Stone', a soft limestone like rock that is used for building and sculpture. In addition olives, olive oil and wine are other primary exports. The Puglia region is accounts for about 70% of the olive oil production in Italy. The local artisians work with the local stone, ceramic design, and interestingly paper mache' (cartapesta). And as with all Italian cities - castles, walls, and amazing churches...
Enough babbling about Lecce - here are some of the great sites of this city...

Anfiteatro Romano in the city center

City pride!

Piazza Duomo & Bell tower

Harmony Fountain & the Castle...

Campanile/Bell Tower

Locks of Love...*

Local Artist...**

* - Lock of Love, as seen in a previous post from Florence by the Ponte Vecchio, many people make their statement of love by placing a lock with their names on it in a public place.
** - A local artist from Bottega del Piccolo Artigiano - a master in making paper mache' creations. We purchased a lovely angel for a-top our holiday tree! She was lots of fun and as you can see...she took a liking to Tom.

While posting pictures of this lovely city, I would be remiss in not showing you a little of our hotel and the amazing people that work there...

Dinner at the hotel w/Martinis!

Our lovely Jr. Suite w/terrace

Tom & I with the lovely &
very helpful Maria!

Tom & I with the amazing Marco
(he makes a great Martini!) 

We have to thank the entire staff of the Risorgimento Resort - an amazing hotel (&spa) with the kindest staff, amazing food, and fantastic location. Maria and her associates were invaluable in pointing us to the best food in Lecce and great sites in the area.
If you get the chance to visit this lovely city - stay with Maria and Marco at the Risorgimento.
Even though I now have 10 more pounds to loss, when there eat at the following places:
   - La Torre di Merlino (The towers of Merlin), great freindly staff and wonderful food!
   - Blu Notte, Fantastic food and amazing desserts (definitely try the Ricotta & Fig Torte - you will not be disappointed).
As an over note of out trip in Puglia, I think Tom & I learned, when ordering a Misto (mixed) appetizer - order a small main meal. Numerous times we ordered an Antipasto Misto and plates started to show up and never truly stopped.
Wow - OK, I am feeling full just thinking about it...

Time to give a quick update on Home-n-Hearth...
After getting home from our trip we still had one more day before Tom had to go back to work - after a little thought we decided to go see a movie in Rome. Don't go too nuts - our Italian is not that good. We went to local movie theatre that shows OV movies (Original Version) - meaning in English. We went to go see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It was truly a cute movie - very light and fluffy. The best way I can describe it is...'Eat, Pray, Cocoon'. Simple a group of older folks (65 and older) move to a retirement hotel in India all looking to find different things out about their lives. I would give it 3 1/2-4 stars...great rainy afternoon viewing.
Another amazing thing to come home to was the garden or should I call it a forest. The garden tripled in size in just a week. The tomato plants are now approximately 3 feet tall and are all flowering. Most even have little tomatoes starting. The lemon tree is all green again and lemon flowers are starting to pop-up all over.
Life is good and the harvest is going to be even better...

My forest in from of the forest...

Plants gone wild...

Future Salads & Sauces...

Future Lemoncello & Lemon Bars...

Ok, I have gone on enough...
Next posting will have more of our great trip! Next up S. Maria di Leuca & Gallipoli!
In future a great look at a Masseria (converted olive/wine estates into BnB's).
Our visitors start next weekend with my cousin Pat and her friend!
Looking forward to their visit.
Let the games begin!

Also, go to Trip Advisor and check out the reviews of Tom G!

For now - Abbracci a tutti, we send love and best wishes to all our friends and family!
un tranquillo (a relaxed) - Ron & Tom