Happy Tuesday from Southern Italy:)

We are moving deeper and deeper into the Apulian region of Italy, an area both ecologically diverse and rich in history. In today's post, we will feature Bari, Matera and Alberobello; three very different, but special places.

First up, Bari, Italy

We arrived in this hard-working port town on a beautiful bluebird day, October the 16th... in fact, we have had spectacular weather, almost without ceasing, since we arrived in Italy. We stayed at a smart little boutique hotel in the center, which was great, as we were in need of a (comfortable bed) and a little pampering. Speaking of pampering, Steve got the haircut of his life in Bari. We walked into this cute little barbershop, with an equally adorable barber (See photos), and ordered up a badly needed trim. This hip hair stylist spent, no lie, 45 minutes on Steve's hair. He washed it...twice!, trimmed, with scissors, countless razors, and straight blades. Then he got his brows trimmed, and a blow-dry! Priceless! (The total price: a mere 18 euros)

Bari is a bit of a conundrum. It is urban, with many high-end shops, but it is also kind of gritty. They wash the strrets every night with a large sprayer in an attempt to rid the air of dog urine, with marginal success. [The urine is probably from the large number of dogs, and few green spaces.] As far as I could tell, Bari does not take enough advantage of its sea access, with regards to restaurants and bars. Bari does have a daily fish market on the nearby pier. I still like Bari, maybe becuase people are friendly, and curious about us, as it is not much of a tourist town. And we are going back soon... we are going to take a ferry from Bari to Dubrovnik on November 9th. (10 hours overnight on a boat...I'm sure it will be story worthy:)

And Matera....

Matera has been on our radar for many months because of its history, topography and unique environment. The city is said to be the longest inhabited city in the world dating back some 7,000 years to cave dwellers. Built at the end of a canyon, Matera is comprised of two distinct districts separated by a hilltop center; Sasso Barisano and Sasso Caveoso. The soft rock type has allowed residents to continually dig into the rock to expand their homes, while also building on top of the caves into the cliff. The walkways are a myriad of meandering paths. After centuries of desolate poverty which led to a 40% child mortality rate, the world became aware of Matera through a famous book by Carlo Levi, "Christ Stopped at Eboli." Living in caves, without running water or sewage systems, is not healthy so the Italian government forced 8,000 residents to relocate in the 1950's & 60's. The sassi are now a UNESCO world heritage site and many are being restored to restaurants, hotels and shops. Matera is a superb treasure of southern Italy.

Up next, Alberobello.

Alberobello was fantastic. We stayed three nights in this darling of a town, made up of trulli (one little domed house is a trullo, multiples are trulli). It is so special it is a World Heritage UNESCO site. As the story goes, the original dwellings were made from the ubiquitous stone in the area, without mortar, to house animals. Then the Duke or Count (or some such nobleman) wanted to avoid paying taxes (to the King) on peasants houses... so he had them move into the trulli, because, as he said "No one would ever believe people were living in huts designed for animals". Thus the entitled nobleman dodged his tax bill, and the people began their long history of living in the modest, stone trulli.

To better appreciate the experience, we were fortunate enough to stay for three nights in our very own trullo. It was so cute, but as you can imagine, very small, and dark. But ours had an amazing patio and many features to maximize light. (See photos and video tour). The patio was where we spent most of our time, drinking wine and listening to the bells from the near-by Basillica.

Other than the trulli, the highlights of three nights in Alberobello included a serious scare of losing Kimberly's iPhone due to water damage, an uneventful 10 minute train ride to visit the town of Locorotundo (supposedly one of the five top most beautiful towns in Italy, but we respectfully disagree) and a fabulous meal at Restaurant Fidelio, owned and operated by our host, Flavio's, sister and brother-in-law.

Our Take: Bari is a maybe, depending on what floats your boat, but Alberobello and Matera are absolutely a must.

Stay Tuned for many more Southern Italian adventures to come!

Love, K and S