LECCE DAY FOUR

Today we had a fantastic tour of some of the highlights of this corner of Italy. It was a long day, made even longer when two of the passengers were not at the appointed pick-up place, and through misunderstandings, it took about half an hour to all be in the appointed place. Then, at our first stop in the village of Ostuni - wait for it - the van broke down! Fortunately, it was a very pretty wee place, so we spent an extra hour and a half there while a new van was organised. We got to know it fairly well.

Two more people joined us there, but the first two hours of their tour was spent going round the village they already knew inside out. They were very good natured about it all.

However, once we got going, we went to Locorotondo, Alberobella (with the Trulli houses) and then the coastal village of Polignano a Mare, which had a wee beach. All of the villages were so clean and tidy. In fact, this morning while we had our fruit’n’yoghurt breakfast at our favourite cafe, a woman on a bike came along with a broom and swept up anything that the truck with the big brushes had missed. So clean and tidy, the whole place. Such a pleasure to see.

The driver spoke no English, so it was very fortunate that a young Italian lass was with us, and could translate. She lives in Holland at the moment, so her English was excellent. She was very interesting (ie scathing) about the Italian elections, being held tomorrow. There were also two Aussies who had just done a Med Cruise, and were heading to Malta for a wedding next. We had a very convivial day out with all of them. (10,456 steps)

When we arrived back, we popped in for a coffee to our other favourite local cafe, and then came home for a salad, focaccia, burrata, tomatoes, balsamic - yum yum…

Another tour tomorrow. Hope we don’t break down…