May 21st: after last night's sumptuous (and at 37, excellent value) meal, this morning's breakfast is quite poor, consisting mainly
of fruit and cereal. Today we have a drive of 180-kilometres as we follow the coast southwards to Trani. But first, we explore Vieste
which like Monte Sant'Angelo consists of white-washed houses crammed together with steep narrow alleys between them. We manage to
find the Cathedral which has a magnificent ceiling:
More exploration on foot takes us to views of Vieste's coast including an overview of Castle Beach with its 25-metre monolith known
as Pizzomumo. After a rest for drinks and finding that both the castle and the Church of San Francsco are closed, we begin our drive
to Trani.
With some navigational difficulty, we find a rock arch as we follow an attractive coastal road flanked by colourful
wildflowers. On reaching a section of roadworks, we foolishly ignore a diversion sign and subject the car to a punishing kilometre
of unsurfaced road. A straight flat road then takes us through marshy land, past a salt producing area, and a section of shallow water
inhabitated by hundreds of flamingos.
In Trani, we arrive at the Colonna Residence to find that we have not booked ourselves
into a regular hotel, but we are to have three nights at a self-catering bed and breakfast establishment.
We have our own parking space behind glass gates, where we park the car after unsuccessfully looking for an open restaurant -
instead we get food at a local supermarket and, with cutlery and crockery borrowed from reception and our bottle of red wine, have
an al fresco meal overlooking the lovely landscaped gardens
May 22nd: today, we explore the area to the south of Trani, commencing with the Castel del Monte. About 33-kilometres from Trani,
the castle was built (probably as a hunting lodge) by Frederick II in the 1240s and is at an altitude of 540-metres. EU citizens over
65 get free entry and there are plenty of captions in English. We are able to walk through the eight towers that circle a central
octagonal courtyard - this most extraordinary example of all of Puglia's castles having been built symmetrically on the basis of the
number eight
On the road from the castle to the town of Ruvo di Puglia, we see our first example of the small circular constructions with a conical
roof that are known as trulli. These basic form of ancient housing are common to this area, although this one is probably a modern
version serving as a bus shelter