Night location: Cisternino, Italy This morning we decided to drive 1.5 hours north to the fascinating Castel del Monte. The majority of the drive was on the highway that ran beside the Adriatic coast. When we were about 15 kilometers away on a smaller country road, we could see the distinctive shape of the fortress perched high on a hill, dominating the surrounding olive groves. Castel del Monte was built in 1240 by Frederick II who at one time was ruler over a...

Night location: Cisternino, Italy This region of Italy is one of the prettiest and most interesting that we have seen. The roads are narrow and lined with the same low stone walls that divide small paddocks of crops and orchards and vineyards. Scattered across the rolling hills are groups of trullo which at times blend into the landscape and yet draw your eye with their white capped conical roofs clustered together. Our first destination was Alberobello which...

Night location: Cisternino, Italy After an auspicious start, our day has gotten progressively better and better! We left our bags at the hotel after another delicious breakfast feeling optimistic that we would return with our hire car within the hour. David took the lead navigating the busy suburban streets of Lecce as we had to walk about 20 minutes to the hire car office. He had mentioned several times that he hoped this car place wasn't an apparition, but Amb...