Day 115 Trulli lovely place!

Saturday 14/07/2018 (Day 29 SZ) Ceglie Messapica, Puglia 72013, Italy

ell considering we had such a late night we both got up early to start the packing gauntlet! This accomodation came with breaky,... 8 croissants 🥐 that are of the sweet variety... some coffee for the expresso maker... and sugar in sachets.... healthy... hmmmm.
So we just had our own... then packed up and off we speed through the little village, passed the Magic Bar where there were all the locals already... then on our way to Vasto first... it was the closet coastal town... not a village but not a huge city...
We tried to find these unusual fishing houses..I saw them in pictures advertising this place... looked unreal... we followed the Nav to a dirt track that lead us through thick, thick... sugarbeat over hanging on the road, from there then onto a very rocky pebbly beach...it was like we were 4 wheel driving only we are in a very low little beat box of a car.... so had to be careful.... we finally could see the fishing huts up the coastline but too far away to get to... So we tried a few different ways to get to it but decided that it wasn’t worth the hassle, even though they look amazing... however we had another chance to see one along a different part of the beach... finally found it , but this one even though authentic it was now a upmarket very expensive, restaurant, not in use as a fishing area now from the look of it.. however we could see one a bit further up the coast that looked like it was still in use... A quick look and on we speed....

All those places around Vasto and further down the coastline showed you how the fishing was and is still done the old way with these unusual fishing houses...

Info from the net....

The Trabocchi are fishing machines dotting the Adriatic coast along the Abruzzo region for 44 km from Ortona to Vasto. A tangle of cables, wood and iron; stilts that to this very date perform their original function: fishing. The system is very easy: a wooden gangway, a level surface made of boards, a hoist and the spokes used to let down the nets. But at a first glance it is immediately evident that this spider has a very special genetic background, that there is much more to it than the nets and poles thrust in the sea. The history of these machines is lost in the mists of time and what did get to us is a mixture of truth and legend still veiled by mystery. The name, to start with: there are many hypotheses concerning its origin: could "trabocco" recall the word "trabocchetto", trap, or the fact that the poles are driven "tra i buchi", between the holes? Most likely, the name is linked to the men who built them, farmers wanting to conquer the sea; the hoist in its mechanism is remindful of the stone mill, the contraption ("trabiccolo") used to crush olives....

The coastline again is filled with people out for the day at the beach... The first place we had to 4 wheel drove to get too, had cars everywhere that had straddled the rough track to get there and heaps of people under their own umbrellas and foam mats to lay in the pebbled beaches... then to the south of us were the multiple umbrella cities you could see for ages strung between the fishing huts that were every 5 of so is apart... some less...plus what amazed us was the sheer volume of people who parked their cars at least 1-2 is and walk down the cliffs to spend the day sitting by the ocean... we go to the beach, but not many spend a full day just sitting under an umbrella ☔️,if they do I haven’ t met them yet....

So off up the Hwy we speed, stopping for lunch at the usual autobarn restaurant and fuel stop... filled with people. Just after we had headed off again the phone rang, but we didn’t quite make it... it was in John’s pocket by the time he got it out the phone had stopped... about 30mins later it rings again. I answer it and this guy starts to talk about my lost passport.... I thought it was a hoax caller..was about to put the phone down when he said he was from Booking.com and the owner of our last stay had contacted them to call us about my passport which unbeknown to me I had left behind... my heart sunk once again as I talk to the man thinking surely he has to be wrong.... but after I got off the phone shaking I went through my bag I keep it in and yep it wasn’t there...

I realised then I had given to the owner yesterday and he had taken it to take a pic of my passport info as they have to do for the police checks... I must have just put it somewhere in haste not realising I had not put it back where it belongs...

So now John being ever patient we try come up with a plan on how we can get it back quickly and it all came down to us driving back to the village tomorrow... this would be 400ks up and 400ks back and we are both mentally and physically buggard at present... all this travel and the constant fight with traffic is taking its toll....

So we phone the owner and after a bit of trying to get him to understand said we would be back tomorrow... however as we got down the road getting tireder and tireder we decide to have tomorrow off take it slow then go Monday.. I send the guy a text in English and Italian thanks to Google Translate.... but after 11pm when we went to bed no answer back... so we realise we are locked into a trip back tomorrow...

We continue on get a little lost after coming through these Amazing villages that just blow your mind... we come through a village called Cecile Messapcia thinking this is it, but no it turns out we are in the country not a village we are on a property of about 20 hectares with 300 year old villa belonging to Gainfranco’s grandparents he is now restoring it to its original state or trying to....

On arrival we did a quick look then headed into the village up the road Francavilla Fontana. This as not an easy feat on Sunday when everything is pretty well shut! Went to get Grocie’s the guy was so funny, h couldn’t talk a word of English and went into a panic with us... flapping around trying to get me to communicate in Italian, then he rushes over to his computer brings up a translate program and we have a kind of conversation typing... he told me in no uncertain terms I much use google translate... in one way he was helpful in another he was annoyed with me anyway... he eventually worked out what we needed he didn’t have much of so sent us across the road to what we now realise is a small supermarket.... before we leave John buys som here’s from him, works out they were the cheapest he had bought here in Italy... in the store using translate..the whole experience was both funny and strange.ll

Packed with our wares we head goods we head back to our hacienda home.... as we do get set up the Owner knocked at the door, he giving us a bG of veggies to use so lovely of him...
The little unit is so well set up with little touches here and there just added to the Flovent feeling of the place.. some almonds we found out late he has grown... plus the veggies he has grown himself... and some home made fig jam in the fridge plus som fruit and a huge bottle of water... so many extras we are surprised,...

Our first night p, I cooked some crumbed chicken things with side salad and home made chips. However I added Gianfranco’s, produced “Johnfranko” cucumber things... they are sweeter and bigger more like an apple cucumber but a bit different shake, and of course his crisp lettuce leaves... nice using home grown produce......Leer más