We were up early to clear out of Bari Casatita, our little home away from home. We agreed that it had been probably the best accommodation - among a series of good stays- in the trip. The normally excellent information system on the platform at Bari Centrale was, as they say, fuori servizio, so we had no indication of when our train was expected, and where the carriages would pull up, or even if the train that arrived around the time was ours. A few well placed ...

PAGE Wednesday 3.1.18 Day trip and walking tour of Matera. A: We were on the road early and had breakfast as the locals do- in the cafe with coffee and pastry (cornetto). Mick's new cough had taken a good firm grip, but there was no way we were going to miss Matera - a major destination in the area, as you will read below. Today's trip was on another of the small local railways - the Ferrovia Appulo Lucane. It even has it's own station building, and has o...

Two days for the price of one in this entry. Quite uneventful as you will see. Between the public holiday and Mick's having contracted a second cold - just as the first was on the way out, a quiet day or two was in order. Despite our best planning, we had to find a place for lunch as the cupboards were bare and Jan 1 of course is a public holiday. We didn't need to walk far till we found Gran Caffe SAICAF which was a very modern pizza restaurant with some prete...

Sunday 31.1217 NYE A: No trains to catch today, so we had a leisurely start to the day, with only midday mass at San Nicola and the walking tour at 4 on the agenda. We walked up through the new town to the old historic part of Bari, stopping for cappuccino on the way "al banco" ie standing. In Rome I had started to ask for coffee with milk instead as I realised that with a cappuccino order I ended up with froth. It seems to be a little different in eac...

M. Let me start with a few disparaging words about Off Exploring (OE) as a blog site. We have used it a couple of times in the past, and its limitations were obvious but bearable then.For this trip I looked hard at an alternative that was easy to share and could be readily printed as a book. It's nice to get the book version. Even though OE seems not to have a significant update in four years, these are two boxes that OE does tick. I couldn't find a suitable, ea...