Normal life: Work 🔼🔼 Gelato: 🔽🔽

But vacation life! Reverse!

Woke up yesterday in Taranto to a thunderous downpour that has set the streets running with rivers and dulled the lively vibe of last night. Good thing we're not hiking right now!

Our attentive and wonderful host at the B & B has brought fresh pastries, made us cappuccino, and ordered a taxi to the car rental.

And we're off, on our own braving an unfamiliar vehicle, traffic laws that are new, in a strange city....in torrential rain. Towards a destination that makes google maps say "huh?" when I try to input it😂

But we make it easily enough - or Brad does, I would still be back in Taranto myself if I had to drive. Our house exchange hosts, Maria Carmela and Angelo are so warm and welcoming. They show us around the complex we will be in, which is their summer home. It's a dizzying complex, huge. After we are treated to a cappuccino at the on site restaurant and introduced to the proprietor, we have time to trade pictures of kids and grandkids( Maria and I) and pictures of cars and motorcycles (Anglelo & Brad)

There's enough time to go for groceries and settle in, ( I like this part) before enjoying a sunset walk on the beach.

This morning dawned bright, clear, and breezy. We're off to Alberobello, which I know will be busy and touristy but Maria Carmela assures me is not to be missed, even so.

These iconic trulli homes are mostly souvenir shops now, at least in the town. Really we can see these dwellings strewn throughout the countryside. Their prehistoric shape and design, particularly in the concentration and landscape of Alberobello, is a UNESCO protected world cultural heritage.

They are captivating, in design, in number, in such a charming setting. Crowds are an unsurprising corollary to such a unique environment.

We move on to the nearby Locorotondo. Now this, this, is the feel and look I love! I instantly fall in love with this town. I could wander these smooth, golden stone cobble streets for hours. Many more restaurants than souvenirs, far less crowds. And thats mystifying, because this town, named as one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, really delivers.

I don't really want to leave, and I think we may return to this one. It has a very compelling peacefulness and beauty.

A tranquil slow paced journey home through the countryside is only overset by the perplexing labyrinth that is the location of our exchange😂 We finally arrive home, and a glass of very good local Nero di Itria helps restore my equilibrium!Read more