As we reached the halfway point of our European Trip we booked a tour of the Itria Valley.

A full day visiting four quite different towns.

The first stop was about an hour from Lecce, the stunning Polignano a Mare, a beachside town built into the rock. More than that it is the home of the man who wrote Volare (listen here)!

Polignano A Mare is just a stunning. A delightful beach in a cove and cliffs that overhang the beautiful Adriatic Sea. Winding streets the end of which always seem to overlook the stunning coast line. That and the best flat white (although it was a cappuccino) I had had since leaving Australia made for a lovely hour or so in the town. Then it was back to the van to meet our fellow travellers.Two delightful solo travellers who as the day progressed just enhanced our enjoyment of the day.

From this delightful town it was onto UNESCO listed Alberobello – famous for the trullo house. The town feels like a theme park and tourist trap. That said it is also not to be missed. Street upon street of these quaint buildings with their conical rooves.

Our driver gave us two hours for Alberobello, trulli, I could easily have done with 30 minutes, however we did have a pleasant lunch with our travel companions who politely spoke in English all day to accommodate the ignorant Australians (us) who could only speak English.

From there it was a short drive to Locorotondo another quaint town. There was a shady lovely park at the entrance to the old town and lovely small streets to wander through. Trip Advisor gave us a list of sights to see but we just wandered the streets for our short visit. Some nice little shops with interesting art and crafts. Perhaps the highlight was my ordering peach (pesca) gelato which in not even Menu Italian, I referred to as Pescara (a town not a food)! No wonder the staff were in hysterical laughter as I left the shop!

Trulli are visible throughout the region

Our final stop was Ostuni, a white city. It was a bit of a drive and we chatted about everything from the hopeless state of our football team, which involved showing a short clip of the football (Australian rules) and then a comment or two about the game finished by saying it was no good explaining the rules because no one understood them anyway – but that it was a fantastic spectacle.

Our travel companions were both interested in football (soccer to us) one a season ticket holder for her team in Belgium and the other an occasional attender at Barcelona’s home games.

From there we chatted about politics and he Spanish divide and the recent elections in both Belgium and Australia. An interesting conversation and a reminder that notwithstanding our lamenting the state of Australian politics we are very lucky. In fact this whole trip as much as I love Europe I have found myself regularly saying what a great place home, Australia is.

Our driver dropped us in the main square in front of an impressive monument and church.

Guglia Di Sant’ Oronzo

Chiesa Di San Francesco

Again we just wandered the streets. Narrow little streets shared by people and cars. It was late in the afternoon and a sign saying “Cocktails a 100 mtrs” was to big a temptation for my favourite person and I.

The views over the valley from the bar were impressive.

Ostuni

A very pleasant day with our travel companions. We loved that it was a self tour. Our driver simply drove us between locations, gave as a time allocation and pointed us in the right direction. No Umbrella raised in the air and tour guide telling us facts we may or may not be interested in. These towns were to be wandered through and that’s what we did.