Most days it feels as if we might be the only tourists in Puglia. A slightly surreal sensation in the Mediterranean where tourists usually out number the locals at this time of year (late May). When you look at a map of Italy, Puglia is the heel of the boot. It is a knotty hard scrabble land; scorched red earth, thousand year old olive trees, trulli (little hobbity houses with domed roofs that can date back to the 14th century) and extraordinarily delicious food. Everything – oranges, chickens, mushrooms, tomatoes, olive oil, sea food – bursts with flavor. It is as if you’ve only ever tasted the photocopied version of these items before.
Everything you want to visit here (museums, churches and shops) close daily between 12.30pm and 4.30pm so the locals can take a 4 hour siesta. It means if you don’t get up early, you are out of luck. You can breakfast late, drive for an hour through the tiny windy country roads bordered with poppies (behind trucks filled with shirtless farm workers holding scythes or three wheeler vans piled high with hay bales) and arrive somewhere just in time for all the shutters to come down.
This is a picture of the Trulli we are staying in next week. After visiting Alberobello (a UNESCO world heritage site filled with over a thousand trulli) today and having peaked inside the tiny rooms, Dad is worried he’ll have to jump from the bedroom door into the bed.
Soul Love Forever 
Great description of the locations in Italy. I can really smell the food and feel the breeze. I’ve never been to Italy (even though I’m European born and raised). Born and raised in Germany, I have lived and worked for a few years in Spain and know the Mediterranean flair and everything that belongs to it. Try to enjoy the moment, Lucie. I know it’s hard when memories pop up in your head (especially at night time). But just trying to focus on the present moment helps a lot. And I’m sure this is what Laura wants for you. She looks like such a “life-loving” person in the pictures. I know her wish for you is to live and enjoy the rest of your life on this planet to the fullest.
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Dear Lucie: Our baby sitter is from Puglia. I’ll find out the name of the village. Someone else I know who has traveled extensively in Italy says it has the best food, by far, than any other region. Enjoy!! Love, Steve
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The food is divine. Tonight we are having two local women cook for us at home (my sister’s children are learning how to make pizza and pasta Puglia style) and the wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen are making me weak at the knees I am so ravenous. Laura would be down in the kitchen stealing bits out of the pans…
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