After months (and months) of staying put during the pandemic and mostly crappy weather in the Netherlands, we made a semi-last minute decision to join our friends on their adventure in Italy, at a house in Puglia that they had booked, sitting right outside of the tiny town of Alberobello. I “dusted” off our itinerary that we were supposed to have undertaken in May 2020 (cancelled) and brushed up on my Italian.
Travelling during the pandemic is pretty crazy. It took me over an hour to check in to our flights because of the paperwork. I got my test beforehand from a 17th century spoelery (ik was negatief!), and our temperatures were checked upon landing in Bari airport. Our first day was spent relaxing by the pool at the house, catching up with our friends, and during the evening we went for a stroll through the town of Alberobello, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its beautiful trulli homes.
A trullo is a dry stone hut with a conical roof. Stéphane shared the story that the reason for the key stone on top of the roofs was because residents used to be taxed by the number of buildings with roofs or something like that, and when the tax collector came around, they would remove the keystone and the roof would easily crumble. No tax! Apparently that was worth it to then put it back together.
Anyway, the evening was beautiful … but so, so hot and sticky! The weather was really intense. As the sun set, we walked through small throngs of tourists, almost all Italian from what we could tell. Definitely a lot of regional tourism this year.
The last two pictures in this series were taken on the farm that we were staying on. There were huge limestone slabs everywhere, scattered throughout the property, and beautiful fields, olive trees, and more. It was a pretty magical place, especially at sunset.
