Cisternino, Italy

We woke up this morning and ate a quick breakfast at our villa before heading out to Alborobello - a UNESCO heritage town about 20 minutes away. The town is known for having trulli (the cone shaped houses) everywehre and it was so lovely to see but very, very crowded with Italian tourists everywhere. We met our guide and walked around, learning the history of the town and trullo before heading out of the town (we were not sad to leave) and into the countryside for a mozzarellla making demonstration at a local masseria or farm. It was a beautiful drive through rolling hills with dry stone walls everhere and red, red earth with SO much stone. When we got to the masseria they were super busy wiht Sunday lunch, but we watched the owner make mozaarella, straciatella and buratta and then tgot to sample everyting - so good!! The family runs the farm/restaurant and it was really interesting and inspiring to see their operation. The only bad thing was Hannah having an allergic reaction to one of their cats :( I read somehwere that there was an antiques market in Monopli, so we decided to drive over there to check it out. Of course we found no market, but we had a lovely afternoon walking around the town and getting our first glimpse of the Adriatic sea! And of course, we stopped for a gelato! We were all super full from the cheese tasting so headed back to the villa for some afternoon pool time and to wait for Auntie Rin and Damian who were driving in from Rome. Luckily we had SO many leftovers from dinner the night before so we were able to pull a meal together and spend the evening catching up when they arrived. We are SO excited to have them here this week!Read more