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in the 12 days we were in the Puglia region of Italy, 4 of them were spent meandering through some old/ancient cities like real tourists. I don’t have much context for these photos other than the town of Metera, which was our favorite (not technically in Puglia), is a very old town. like 9000 years old. there is some crazy history there that is still alive today, and I suggest you check it out on wikipedia or something, since my fingers don’t feel like typing that much this morning.

the terrain was pure Texas hill country if the civilization of the Texans had been 12,000 years old. wow, imagine that. Lord Emmett Smith! Lance Armstrong the Conquerer. but really folks, felt like the most beautiful parts of the Texas hill country surrounding Austin. just completely saturated with old roads, stone walls, and ancient history that makes you go “hmmmmmm” constantly.

okay lets get into some doors! a door gallery. sometimes I think, oh man gotta get a photo of that dang door! other times im like … these doors are all photo worthy … whatever.

so thats just from one town. I think these were all Metera. okay lets move on to some other pics before we walk through some more doors.

okay we have a pulse here…

this fountain was in Bari. we flew in and out of Bari. interesting town on the other side of the tracks than where our hotel was. glad mom and I took a nice walk to check out the old town. pasta makers outside etc.

old world charms just moments away from a mile long Gucci super store.

every town had gems. old world charms.

I had both my Ricoh GRIIIx and GRII with me for two different views. I used the wider GRII most of the time.

the food was fresh and fantastic. great vegetarian traditional offerings since this was a poor region for so long. I suppose it still is, but they live much better than most poor regions — to the outside eye at least.

the town of Alberobello (thats a mouthful). it was offseason and not many people out. would have liked to have spent more time in this town.

guess they’d really fixed it up since the old days….

now for some photos from the town we stayed in, Locorotundo. fun to say.

not a bad spot! but I think I would have rather stayed mostly in the countryside — although it was nice to be able to walk to the grocery store. there was a highly rated and recommended pizza place in Locorotundo, but I am telling you as a generations deep New Haven adjacent New Englander, that their pizza was bad enough to turn me off from pizza the rest of the trip. floppy, not sliced, and way too cheesy. and the salad they served at this place was iceberg lettuce! c’mon. I did not take a photo, cuz it still had the guise of a good pizza. you had to be there. truth is of the 5 trips we’ve taken to italy, you try their best offerings (generally Neapolitan style), and you will be like — oh yah, we do this too — but perhaps with more intention? this is new in the US —- but there is good pizza virtually everywhere now. fancy pizza people in the US have had to really step it up …. and they have. not that it’s all good, but it sure is crispier when its good.

the best part about Italy for me is the ingredients you can get to cook for yourself at the grocery stores. the quality, and the low prices. the produce. the olive oils!

okay hope you enjoyed!

XXRR