Beautiful descriptions - thank you for sharing

Thanks for the comments. Jubilada, I find Puglia is an evocative place.

My wood fire grilled gamberoni comes with a glass dome that is filled with gauzy smoke, and when the lid is lifted, a wonderful aroma of wood smoke escapes and wafts by our noses. I have no idea how they accomplished that!>>

now I'm jealous. those pics look terrific.

LECCE

The drive into Lecce isn't half as horrible as I had read. Really, the only bad thing is that our GPS keeps trying to get us to drive into a lane that has posts in front of it. Of course it does, our hotel is in the Centro Storico!

So, as I have done several times already, I leave the group in the car, walk into the lane with posts, and find our hotel lobby inside a restaurant of the same name.

Catarina, the beautiful, dark haired young woman who is looking after us, volunteers to come back with me to the car and show us where the parking lot is.

Our car cannot fit another person, so I walk in to the hotel, and Catarina gets in and directs my group and the car around to where we can unload our bags, then further goes with Tim to show him where to park, about a mile away.

Talk about personalized service! And Tim doesn't mind taking directions from this beautiful girl!
Moral of the story is, never be afraid of booking a hotel in the Centro Storico. There's always some-one willing to help, and the location can't be beat.

Our B &B is set inside a 15th Century synagogue and our rooms are drop dead gorgeous, with high ceilings and wood beams, modern bathrooms, and the biggest bed I have ever seen. And out the window is a view of the Santa Croce Basilica and the piazza that is named after it. What's not to love!

Tim and I enjoy seeing the reaction of C and E. Architecture like this is simply not found in our young country.
Santa Croce has more decoration per square foot than one could imagine, like the winner of an 'extreme' cake decorating contest, with gargoyles, demons, strange looking men, women and animals, dragons, curlicues, flowers, fruits, and geometrical designs. You name it, Santa Croce has got it, and its all done very tastefully.

I'm also loving that C is really good with directions, and takes over the navigating responsibilities. After being the tour guide for 3 weeks, I'm ready to follow some-one else.

He guides us around a walking tour of the city, where the baroque architecture, of course, is the draw. And it's everywhere. It's a small center, and literally in any direction we walk, we see churches, palazzos, and balconies decorated in this joyful style. The grey stone of the north has given way to a soft honey color and cream. Lit up at night, everything glows in a most attractive way.

It's a lively city, too. Lecce has a very different cultural feel to it, a modern progressive drive which also respects and maintains the heritage of the city. Many young people here, like Catarina, have taken an interest in promoting the history of the place, along with the careful restoration of historical buildings.

All along the streets are interesting shops, not just the well known designer shops that are in every city, but artisanal shops with leather goods, handmade jewellery, old book stores, and the local craft of papier mâché.

Papier mâché has been made here since the 17th C. and much of it has a religious theme, although there is also other subject matter. If you have the patience, look at this website, a series of photos which can be watched as a slideshow, and demonstrates how it is made and the finished product.

http://enricomartino.photoshelter.co...000U3YX0C_h7bE

It is fascinating to see, and it is the one thing I would have brought home if we had any room.

The leather shop also holds some treasures, and Tim buys a great leather briefcase, after which time we see a lot of businessmen there carrying the same style of case.

Catarina had made reservations for us at Alle Due Corti, famous for "cucina povera", dishes based on the "cooking of the poor".

At first we miss it and walk by, as there is not a lot of fanfare. Double doors are open so I pop my head in, and a smart looking older Italian woman sitting at a table smiles and waves us to come in. It's not fancy, but it's homey, and very clean.

At 7:30, the place is already full, I would venture, with tourists. But the service and the meal are not at all that of a tourist restaurant.

The good thing about having four people is that there is more opportunity to try different dishes. So that is just what we do. We ordered.....

Ciceri e tria- boiled and fried pasta with chickpeas- good
Lu piattu te lu tiaulicchiu--Cheese, salami and olive. This dish is spicy.- really good but some of the cheese was really strong
Fave nette cu le cicureddhe- Mashed fava beans with chicory and olive oil- excellent
Mixed fried vegetables- fresh and delicious
Purpette allu sucu- Meatballs in tomato sauce.

La Taieddha.
It is rice, sliced potatoes and mussels baked together in the oven.

Every dish is very well prepared and flavourful, but my favorite is La Taieddha, rice on the bottom to sop up all the flavour, mussels in the middle, and the potatoes making a scalloped potato-like crust, really, really good.

Reading Christ Stopped at Eboli I think helped to get an understanding of where this poor cooking originated, with peasants who were only able to afford to eat meat possibly only several times a year, and with the need to make tasty food out of what was available.

It has been said that cucina povera comes from everywhere people who were poor lived. My grandmother made delicious food for us when we were young; rice rolled up into cabbage leaves, and flavoured with onions and a bit of bacon, fried in bacon grease and butter; soup made from beets, carrots, potatoes, onions, beans, dill and sour cream; pirogues made from flour, water, cottage cheese, mashed potato, dill, and sometimes Saskatoon berries.
Certainly this was cucina povera, from a different country, but originating from the same poverty. I felt a connection to my own heritage when I read the book.

A nice expression of the philosophy of the Salento here:

http://www.alleduecortishop.com/alle...astronomia.htm

Total bill for 4 people: €87.50

The night is still young, and the young ones want to map out the shops to explore tomorrow before we head off down the coast. So we take in some more of the heady atmosphere of a warm night in Lecce.

I am really enjoying your trip report sundriedpachino, thank you.
We have just come back from Naples and the Amalfi coast but Puglia is a place I want to go to next.

Thanks raincitygirl. Maybe we crossed paths on the Amalfi coast. We went to Amalfi after Puglia in the beginning of October.

I seem to have missed giving the name of our B and B in Lecce:

Palazzo Persone

http://www.palazzopersone.com/camere...agina=sinagoga

October 2, Tuesday

By the time the purchases are made in the morning, I am dripping from the humidity and the heat. The temperature has cooled down some to the low 30's, but I'm getting grumpy from having to swab my neck and face with napkins that I brought along from breakfast.
It's getting later and later. Since I started planning this trip, the one thing I really wanted to do was to get down to the tip of the heel of Italy, if for no other reason than to say I dipped my feet in the meeting of the seas.

We finally get on the road by noon, and we head all the way down to Castro Marina to the Zinzulusa Caves. I've seen pictures on the Internet and it looks fantastic.

When we arrive there, the restaurant is closing, at 1 pm.
It costs €5 each to go down to the caves, which don't look anything like the pics on the Internet. We wait 10 or 15 minutes for the guide, and the tour is a lame imitation of our tour at the Grotte di Castellana. What can I say? The tour guide was pulling on the skin on his arm, and gesturing to indicate... something? Tim finally figures it out...droopy boobs. Sad....
And we call this the droopy boobs, because it looks like droopy boobs.....

Enough of caves. We may have enjoyed it more if we had taken the boat tour around to see the limestone caves from the water view. I was outvoted on that one.

C and E are not convinced yet that the Mezzogiorno in southern Italy means everything is closed in the afternoon, and we mean 'everything'. After much driving around, C is able to acquire something similar to Glossettes chocolate covered peanuts for E.

E is now feeling ill. We make a quick stop to see the beach at Porto Badisco, which has been described as one of the most beautiful beaches anywhere.

I'd like to think it was the circumstances of the day, or that the sky was a little grey, or that maybe we had the wrong beach, but Porto Badisco was a letdown.

We climb back in the car, and start north, along the coastline. It is quite pretty, doesn't bowl me over though, and E is feeling really badly for "spoiling our day". So we decide to hit the highway and get back to Lecce for a good meal.

I guess I'm going back some day to Otranto, down to Tricase, Santa Maria di Leuca, and around to Gallipoli and the Ionian Sea, maybe Santa Caterina.
But I'm definitely going to allow more than one afternoon next time. Lesson learned.

Well, this vacation is not all about me. Thanks to tripadvisor, E finds a restaurant that serves gluten free items, and a good time is had by all.

We all feel sad to leave this city, which has been so friendly and welcoming to us. There is something special about the hospitality of the south.
-----------------------------------------------
For anyone really interested in the Salento, here is a website of Masseria Uccio at Tricase
The owner has compiled a great amount of information about the area, history of Masseria, what to see, what to do, where to eat, all under the Masseria tab, and the menus on the left
I found this website through Fodorite kawh, whose trip report in May inspired me.

http://www.masseriauccio.com/index.p...l-Salento.html

Tomorrow: paying Il Conto, swimming in a cave, gasping at Matera

We were in the area same timeframe as you and it was hot. And yes, isnt it amazing how absolutely EVERYTHING closes down in the afternoon. We would rush to get someplace before the big shut down. Often even before 1, things would be closing up.

Who knew Porto Badisco is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches anywhere -- nice, but wasn't overwhelmed by it & we saw it on a bright blue sky, sunny day. I did love the drive up & down the coast from Otranto to Santa Maria di Leuca.

Couldn't agree more with you about the hospitality of the south. Felt like I was leaving a good friend in each place we left.

Yes, my husband had an interesting word to describe the south, he said they are more "forgiving", especially referring to the driving.
I would add, perhaps less formal than in the north.
In any case, we like it! It's similar in Sicily.

I am really enjoying this charming and helpful report, but it is giving me pause about visiting this region. I am a slow traveler in the sense of the word that I often don't get out for the day until 1pm! When does everything reopen?
perhaps an apartment rental would be a necessity for me, because nothing is more important than eating.

I thought Porto Badisco (the tiny beach cove between the rocky headlands) was beautiful, but there ARE beaches that are more beautiful further south along the Adriatic, towards Leuca. This past September (2012) we visited a picture-postcard beach in a rocky cove near NAviglie that reminded me of the beach in the fjord at Furore, but many times more beautiful and much cleaner.

The Ionian beaches like Pescoluse on the Ionian side fulfill the conventional picture of a gorgeous stretch of white sand with clear turquoise water (on sunny days, anyway), but on our most recent trip a few months ago, we fell in love with Sta Maria al Bagno, and a few of the beaches near Porto Selvaggio. Also a few near Ugento, where we stayed for a few days.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/be...o-Otranto.html


But if you really want to talk beaches, Maratea, on Basilicata's short Tyrrhenian coastline, has some dreamy spots.


Sounds as if you had a lovely vacation!

Thanks ekscrunchy, for the beach info. I know there are some beautiful spots all along there, and we just have to get back and spend more time.

Yorkshire, you really have to plan for mealtimes, as at home I usually grab a bite about 2 pm, but in Italy, the south in particular, it seems to me everything is closed tight by 2 pm. We found the same in Umbria.

Then we would have a glass of wine with snacks about 5 pm, and that would keep us going until 8 for dinner.
Now we're home, we seem to have fallen into that pattern!

thanks, sundriedpachino--I am the same way about Spain's dining times--eating dinner well after 9pm most nights!

These photos are mostly from my husband's Samsung phone, so I had to do a lot of editing, but here are pics of Lecce and the Zinzulusa cave

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sjukh561ug9aq1g/uNTzDWRvy3

ON TO MATERA


I have made an appointment for a tour in Matera, so it is essential that we leave early this morning.

Tim and C and E fetch the car. They find a spot to pull off and load up the luggage while I go to pay the bill.
In the office, I try to pay with my Visa, but the network is down. Several times the girl tries, but it is just not working. Time is ticking by....I explain that my husband is parked in a No Parking zone, so she takes me down the block to a business of a friend, and he tries my Visa multiple times, but still, the network is down.
The friend accompanies me to an ATM, but that network is down. Another bank, another ATM, same thing. More time....
I find out that it is impossible to get cash inside the bank. So we walk and walk to a third bank. I am texting Tim to let him know what is happening, but his phone is off.

I see E walking towards us, and am glad to see a familiar face. And finally, I am able to get some cash. Luckily, I have 2 debit cards, so I can take €250 on each, and scrounge up enough cash between the two of us to almost pay the bill. It'll have to do.

It has taken an hour to pay the bill, and thankfully Tim is still waiting in the No Parking spot, pretty much on the sidewalk, in front of the government offices. A little stress to start the day right!

The highway up to Bari seems the obvious choice to save time, and after all the poking about, it feels good to just go, straight and fast.

There is the matter of lunch, and the afternoon closings, so I suggest we stop at Torre a Mare again, to pick up some food, and eat by the waterfront.
We find a bakery, a rosticceria where we buy a rotisserie chicken with potatoes, some fresh fruit, and C gets a wonderful sandwich, and we head down to a cafe overlooking the marina, and have a healthy and sustaining lunch. And the view is great. No lunch panic today!

There are several roads into Matera, and we are coming from the Altamura direction. There's not much to see until arrival into the town, but once the Sassi become visible, we hear gasps from the back seat. Matera on first sight is pretty impressive!

Our hotel, Locanda di San Martino, is another of those hard to get at, right in the middle of things, kind of places. It's quite a journey, though, down through the lanes of white on white buildings and churches, piled up in angular shapes and blocks, like a ghost town, slightly eerie, but at the same time, impelling us to explore and find its story.

We check in, take a quick peak at the Thermae, spa pool with hot pool, steam room, sauna, relaxing room, all carved into the caves. It's fantastic, and we can hardly wait to relax here, after our tour.
Stairs lead down from our room, weaving past other rooms and terraces with views over the Sassi. Our guide meets us on the patio outside the lobby, and we begin our tour.

Giving us some history of the area, as well as some background into the politics of the restoration of the Sassi, she walks us through the streets, showing us one of the cave churches, and other characteristic buildings.

Where most other civilizations build up, the Sassi were built down, each level being carved out of the hillside underneath the homes above.

She explains how insular these groups of people were, not just from the rest of the country, but even among neighbourhoods within the Sassi.
Although poverty was universal, groups from one side of the Sassi considered themselves superior to groups from the other side of the Sassi.

The lack of sanitation, animals living in the dwellings with their owners, and not enough nutritious food contributed to rampant illness.
The number of children who died here from malaria will probably never be known.

Since the first time we were here 2 years ago, I have read Carlo Levi's book, which I believe gives more insight into life in these towns than either of the tours we've taken, although we enjoyed both tours, and do not regret taking them.

After two hours, we are anxious to get back and relax in the 'cave spa' before dinner.
And it's just what we need! How much better can it get than beautiful aqua pools in carved out cave shaped rooms, alternately with steam rooms and herbal tea. After an hour and a half of that, we feel totally refreshed and renewed, and ready to carry on.

Tim and I have fond memories of a great meal at Rivelli two years ago, so we all dress for dinner, and off we go for a meal we've been anticipating.

At 8 pm, we are the only ones in the restaurant. To say the least, the service is indifferent. The proprietor is unimpressed that we have returned.
We order the house antipasti which includes a large platter of tasty salamis and cheeses, mixed vegetables, the fava bean and chicory dish, noodles with porcini mushrooms, 3 portions of lamb, and sausages.

And we also ask if its possible to get an order of the sautéed olives that we had last time. Of course it is.

Everything is tasty, except the sausages look and taste exactly like the ones we buy at home at Costco. How is that possible?

The sautéed olives are a no-show, as is the pasta with porcini. When everything else has been consumed, we ask about our pasta.

The proprietor gives us a look of horror, not that he's forgotten something, but that WE forgot something.
"You want pasta? Now?"
Okay, maybe a simple misunderstanding, but considering we are still the only people in the restaurant, the cook and the proprietor have been having a noisy argument, and the cook is now standing outside smoking, something seems a little off.

It feels like we are intruding on something, and no-one seems to care if we are happy with our meal or not.

Ristorante Rivelli. Via Casalnuovo 27 75100 Matera (MT) - Italia
I am not recommending this place because there are so many other well recommended restaurants in Matera with better service.

One thing we have learned in our travels is, trying to re-create an experience almost never works. Not a big deal.... Matera in lights is waiting for us.

From one side of the Sasso Caveoso, one can see across to the Sasso Barisano, irregular shapes outlined and highlighted by strategically placed lighting. Just a few decades ago, there was no electricity, and the light would have been from lanterns, or perhaps cooking fires. The animals would have been bedded down for the night inside the farthest reaches of the caves, and the sound of sick children crying would have echoed across the chasm.

But tonight, a band is playing rock songs from U2, Led Zeppelin and other groups from the Seventies and Eighties, and it is filling the Sassi with familiar sounds from our past.

We stand and listen while we contemplate how a place once so full of horrors could be so beautiful now. This is an experience the young ones will not forget.

Here are some photos of Matera. I have included a few I took in 2010, when my camera was still working....

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/emb6wyb37gkb3rs/7ZceEI7kha

We were only able to spend one night in Matera, and if we had had one more day, we could have also visited the Cripta del Peccato Originale, frescoes painted in an underground cave found in the middle of a field.
However, we had taken one day from Lecce so C and E could experience Matera on our way to Amalfi, and I'm so glad we did.
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A word to those on a gluten free diet: In Northern Italy, almost every breakfast buffet had gluten free items, but in the south, nothing.
We did stop at a large grocery store, Hyper coop, which was a few miles out on the highway from Matera.
They had a large selection of gf items, so DD bought gluten free bread and some other items so she would have some emergency food.

DD also found on the web that the farmacias carry bread and snack type things, which she was able to buy, to fill the carb hole when grilled fish alone just wasn't doing it.

We encountered risotto on the menu as well, but often with cheese, and one can tire of eating risotto too often. In the north, of course, there was polenta.

The hotel in Matera told us that if we had requested in advance, they would have been able to provide some gf choices. Just a tip there for others who are on gluten free diets.

Sundried, I so enjoyed your TR. My wife and I are heading to Puglia in mid May for 2 weeks. I've made notes from lots of your comments - thanks. Also, I was glad to see that your daughter was able to get by on her GF diet as my wife is gluten sensitive. Your notes specific to gf were appreciated. Do you happen to remember the name of the gf restaurant in Lecce? Thanks again for the terrific report!
Robbie

Hi Robbie, thanks for your comments. You will have a great time in Puglia.
I think the secret for surviving on a gf diet is to bring along a few items just to get started on. The large grocery stores can be as difficult to find as an ATM machine when you need one. :)

It was those first few days when my daughter had not found anything yet, that she was getting a little panicky.

In the end, I think I suffered more from 5 weeks of eating (too much) amazing food in Italy, than DD did from lack of gf food!

I will ask her if she remembers the name of the restaurant in Lecce.

I wanted to add that, although I might have seemed negative about the Grotte di Castellana, we did really enjoy seeing them, it's quite an experience.