On the road again today headed for Abruzzo, a mountainous area on the eastern side of Italy. We may even see snow again.
We spent the weekend in Locorotondo at a country B&B surrounded by Olive trees and wineries. This is in Puglia.
Our room was in a Trullo which is an adorable little hobbit house that are native to Puglia, especially in the area around Bari.
The resort makes everything themselves and take a lot of pride in it including olive oil, wine, grain and all of the food served in the restaurant. When we arrived they gave us a welcome drink of their propriety white wine and checked us into the room. After that we drove the short drive into the historic center of Locorotondo for lunch at a place called Bina. The B&B arranged a wine tasting for us in the late afternoon about an hour away at a family run winery called Polveranera. Right before leaving for the winery is when we realized the Internet (and also the Sky TV) was out for the weekend. The owner of the B&B, Rosabla was very sweet and lent us her iPad for the weekend even though that didn’t really work either since the Trulli are made of 1 ft thick stone walls.
The wine tasting was interesting. At first the daughter called and tried to canceled because someone hadn’t shown up for work and she was all by herself manning the store and was worried she wouldn’t be able to show us around. Since we were already on the way and it was kind of a ways she agreed to just give us a tasting in the shop which was fine by us. We noticed this in Spain as well that the wineries prefer to show you around, tell the history of the winery and the how the process works and then do a formal sit down tasting at the end. The idea of just coming in to taste at the counter doesn’t seem to be as common here as in Napa. They had a really nice wine tasting dog.
When we got to the winery there was another couple there with their young children. The wife was pretty knowledgeable about wine and since the winery was pretty quiet we ended up getting the whole tour and story and trying a bunch of their wines. We were there for almost 3 hours but at the end didn’t really buy much because we didn’t love the wine that much. Still, it was nice to visit a family run spot that clearly gets a lot of love and support from the locals.
We showed up for dinner back in Locorotondo around 8:45 to a place again recommended by the hotel. This place was a little bit out in the country and when we got to the front door we had to be buzzed in. A first for both of us. The restaurant was dead empty when we got there but by the time we left at 10:45 it was in full swing with every table full and kids running around between the tables. They eat a lot of seafood in Puglia and when you order fish at a restaurant they let you go up to the display case and pick the one you want. Everything is super fresh like it just came out of the water. Dave chose the fish named Eric.
On Sunday morning we drove out to the ocean and a town called Polignano a Mare.
The weather was nice and the town was really lively with families out walking around and having drinks at the outdoor cafes. We grabbed a Spritz where we could enjoy the people watching. For lunch the first place we checked was completely booked so we decided to try the fancy looking seafood restaurant built into a hotel hanging over the water. The place was full of very well off Italian extended families (each table was set for at least 10 people.) Dave again was able to pick his seafood.
After spending the day in the sun, Dinner was somewhat quiet.
Today we we drove to Semivicoli. It was a long drive. The drive was through some rolling hills and ended in the foothills beneath a snow covered mountain. We had a wine tasting at the hotel. Tomorrow we hope to get out and about to try the local wines.