Ostuni

Ostuni

Ostuni is a tiny white hamlet that sits atop a hill in Puglia (or Apulia), guarding the region at the heel of Italy. It is so small that it takes only 10 minutes to stroll from one end of town to the other, and 30 minutes to walk the circumference with stops for photos and look into the few shops that may be open. Indeed, being off season, the town was very quiet and very few places were open. There was such a slow rhythm to everything, it seemed like the town just went to sleep, hibernating and waiting for Easter when the tourist season would begin. It was nice to have the narrow windy streets and scenic lookouts to ourselves, even if it meant that we were stared at by the few old men and old ladies around.

We explored the town most thoroughly on our first morning, before the rain came in the afternoon. Not having found anything interesting open for lunch, we cooked at the apartment, and were just about to settle for a restful quiet afternoon when Kai slipped on a puddle in the lounge. There was a leak! As the rain intensified, so did the number of leaks. Kai found more buckets, and we used all the buckets and all the pots and all the pans. Grace kept in contact with the apartment owner who received a progress report about the increasing number of leaks and their location. He was most apologetic and did not even mind that Grace melted his coffee maker. A brand new one with fresh coffee beans was delivered the next morning. Fortunately, the rain stopped by the evening and before the ceiling fell.

The sun shone when we woke the second morning. We explored the town again in the morning, and failing to find any corner or alley we have not been down at least twice, we decided to go to the beach. The lady at the tourist information was most helpful. She told us that there was only one bus in Ostuni, and only one bus stop. The microbus (honestly, the tiny bus is called a microbus) leaves Ostuni for the beach at 1.15pm and picks up from the beach at 4.50pm.

We decided to have lunch at the local cafe/newsagent/restaurant/bar. The town is so tiny that one little place served all those functions. We discovered it had great coffee and simple but tasty homemade pastas and sandwiches. When the owner heard that we had no car, he shook his head. Then he leant that we were going to the beach, and he exclaimed, " Mama Mia!" with his five fingertips pressed together and waving at us. Different regions of Italy have totally different cultures, different foods, different pastas, different dialects and accents. But, they all exclaim "Mama Mia!" in the same way, with the same gesture of five fingertips pressed together, waving in exactly the same way. Even the little boy of about 7 exclaimed it, with the appropriate gesture, when the soccer ball he kicked just missed Kai's head.

We went to the beach armed with Kindle, books and a pack of cards to occupy ourselves with. Before we got off the microbus, the driver gesticulated for us to wait. He got his bus timetable out and circled 4.50pm, the time for us to catch the bus back to Ostuni. Guess he did not want us to miss the only bus back.

We walked along the beach from one bay to the next. It was a mixture of sandy bays, rocky bays, and bays of dried corals. One thing that was prevalent was litter and garbage. It was sad to see a coastline robbed of its beauty by sheer laziness and care-lessness. Apartments and houses of various sizes lined the beaches, and all were shut and boarded up. Collectively, they formed a ghost town with stay cats that eyed us suspiciously. Needless to say, the beach was deserted. There were 2 men casting their fishing lines into the waves, and a few local tourists who stayed no more than 5 minutes to take a few photos before driving away. We walked along the bays, we walked in ghost town, admired the bigger and more fancy houses that fronted the beach, and explored the rock pools. Time flew by. Only Kindle emerged from the bag, but it was not read. When we went for apertivo, the cafe owner seemed relived to see us back from the beach. He gave us some pizza "free, free" as though to celebrate our return.

We could have stayed in Ostuni for many more days, but it was time to leave for Naples after 3 nights.Read more