Adventures with Julia

September 20, 2023

We’v been slowly working our way up the east coast of Puglia and today we visited Polignano. It is a small seaside town with colorful character. Our new driver, Carlo, is the owner of the company that has been driving us around. He speaks very good English and was very pleasant to be with, especially as Silvia did not meet up with us until we reached Polignano, an hour after departing Ostuni. His tourist driving company is very lucrative and he and his wife and daughters are able to travel a fair amount. He goes to Sicily every year and has been to the US 4 times. He was driving us in a new Alfa Romeo today. We met up with Silvia at Elisa’s office at her guide service company, called Southern Visions, in Puglinano. We visited awhile and complimented Elisa on the excellent service we have received.

From there, we drove to the main gate and did a short walk through the gate and into Polignano.

We went inside the important town Church di Santa Maria Assunta and saw a real marble altar with lovely wooden choir, a beautiful organ, and an exquisite sculpture of the Nativity by Stefano da Putignano. Apparently it is so well regarded that an Italian stamp has been made of it.

From the church we wandered around the small, narrow streets enjoying the views of town and the Adriatic See. Before getting on a boat to see caves, Mark had another cappuccino . I was concerned that the water would be rough, as it had been the other day, but the Sea was only slightly choppy. We, however had no interest in swimming. The caves were larger and easier to enter and experience than the last trip, which was nice. The rocks were colorful, there were lots of shells and it was fun to see the town hanging on the edge of the cliffs. The tiny, rocky beach was full of people enjoying themselves, but it did not occur to us to join them.

Carlo drove us back to our hotel in Ostuni, where we relaxed by the pool until it began to sprinkle. The first rain we have seen on this trip. It lasted only long enough to drive us out of the garden and into our room. After a couple of hours, we walked down into the old town and got a bite to eat. The couple sitting next to us spoke English so we got into a nice conversation. He was from Australia and she was from New York. Currently they live in Australia and are in Italy on a month long holiday. Well after dark, we slowly walked back uphill to our hotel and dropped into bed.