October 30 Brindisi & Oria Puglia

For breakfast we headed to Pimm’s Good restaurant that Sevada had recommended. There are 2 universities nearby, and this seems to be their hang out. Made for good people watching.

The hotel arranged a taxi to the airport. We got there super early and for the first time took advantage of our Visa Airport Companion from RBC and used the Prima Vista Lounge. Loved it - delish Italian food & wine, good wifi. Will use it again on route home.

In Brindisi we rented a car through You Do Italy. It was a stick shift - which Peter liked once he got used to it. All was fine until I put in the address for Roberto. We were supposed to meet him, and would take us to Lily’s home - her place doesn’t have an address. I put in the address Via Cairoli 4, but not the city. When we arrived, there was no #4 so I knocked on the door at #5. A tall black gentleman answered and only spoke Italian. Confused, I then called Roberto, who also doesn’t speak English, but I managed to understand that his house was #2. I found that and knocked but no one answered. By now it was totally dark. .

I called Robert back, who kindly went out and found a friend who spoke some English. It was then that I realized we were in the wrong city - San Pietro Vernotico not Oria. Finally about 9:30pm we arrived at Roberto & Rosanna’s home. They were super friendly, but neither spoke a word of English so I pulled out my phone and by using Reverso - and lots of smiles & gestures - we were able to communicate. They were really sweet, and drove us to Lily’s. YIKES not easy to find - especially in the dark.
They showed us how things worked - especially the alarm system that we found intimidating. Roberto said we didn’t need to set it - which was a huge relief.
The house is lovely - white & spacious with high vaulted ceilings - and the property contains acres of olive and orange trees. She hasn't finished furnishing it yet to make it "homey" but it will be spectacular when finished, ,

By now it was 10 pm, and we’d had no dinner, so tried to find a place that Lily had recommended - Ostia Luce in the heart of the historic district. To our luck they were still open - really needed that lovely glass of wine . . . . Getting back to Lily’s was a challenge. I had pinned it, but it kept taking us round and round in circles. Finally we found it. YIKES that was quite a day. . . .Baca lagi