The Last Days of Puglia

Yesterday was our last full day in Puglia. It was a jam packed day (and night) of activities and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

But the night before, we had a very special treat. During dinner, Lewis (one of our intrepid B&R tour leaders) sang a beautiful Italian ballad. It brought tears to everyone's eyes. Alright, maybe it only brought tears to Lewis' eyes , but we all gained a lot of respect for him and his effort.

The Masseria San Domenico was fabulous (and pricey). On a slope overlooking the Adriatic, it is part of a large estate. From the rooftop, you can make out the hills of Albania across the sea.

We bicycled thru the "Land of the Trulli" around Alberobello. Trulli are small houses built with conical stone roofs. There are thousands of them in the area and they are now protected as national landmarks. So much for doing a "gut job" and renovating a new vacation home in Puglia.

We also stopped in to a small family-run cheese factory. We never knew that you could carve little animals out of fresh mozzerella. Go figure. The cheese tasted great - no more packaged crap from the grocery store.

We met a lot of great people on this bicycle trip: PJ and Rick, Dave (helmet cam man) and Sharon, DeWitt and Glory, George and Donna, Jim and Deb, Franc and Nancy, Brad and Barbara, Hugh and Sally, Celeste, Janet, and Bill and Patti. A lot of fun to ride with, eat with, and of course, drink with.

Here are some photos from our last day in Puglia and the folk entertainment at our "goodbye" dinner: