Saturday 15 May 2010

Getting lost - raised to an art form

Well here we are in Italy - near to a town called Matera which has amazing frescos in caves - you can see why I am excited. This is the view from my balcony.
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The main thing that we have done is get lost - always our specialist subject. More on that later.
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We are staying a little way out of town so are going to the caves bit on the hotel shuttle bus tomorrow. The reason for this is that we have developed streetophobia - fear of narrow streets that are only one inch bigger than our hired Fiesta. We can see why the locals drive Smart cars.

This is the door of the flat in Lecce where we stayed last night. Right in the heart of the old city with more Cathedrals, basilicas and amazing old walls than you could shake a stick at. It was wonderful being right in the heart of it.

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I love the little glimpses down alleyways that Italy offers. Here is one in Bari.
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Weather great - cooler here than down south but still hot. Here are a few more pics. I am adding stuff one pic at at a time as this connection is poor - like most things at the Hilton Garden Inn - so far we are not impressed.

Here are a few more - this one is the old port of Monopoli. We got lost here in spectacular fashion and I was so glad I wasn't driving.

The story of our first getting lost was a bit of an adventure. Arriving late after numerous delays, armed only with a Google map and driving in the dark on the opposite side of the road (in a manual car with gearshift in the wrong place) we drove straight as an arrow to the heart of the red light district. Then we wound up back at the airport. An hour later we were stuck up a one way street, going the wrong way. A lovely young Italian couple knocked on the window and asked if we were Ok. In the end they drove our car to the hotel, the other one following in their car. Wasn't that kind? I love Italians.

It has given up loading pics so I will try again tomorrow.

2 comments:

Aussie Jo said...

Nothing like an adventure to make a holiday memorable, I hope your adventures all have happy endings like that one!!

Bonnie M. Broussard said...

My mother forwarded this to me; I come from Texas and have lived in Italy for the last 3 years. It is a wonderful place to get lost (and often hard to avoid). One of my best friends is from Matera and her descriptions of her childhood home are lovely! If you get as far North as Lago Maggiore, drop by...internet is pretty good at our house. In the meantime, happy traveling in the south.