Saturday




 They said rain all morning, but just like our weathermen at home, they were wrong. No one gets mad when you expect rain and it’s beautiful! We decided to go to Monopoli. We walked to the train station. Buying the tickets was not an easy feat! We had to ask a young couple which track our train was on. It’s all computerized no one was working at the station.




We got our round trip tickets, but no one ever asked us for them! I guess it’s a code of honor.  Monopoli is a bigger city with more shopping. There is a big beautiful town square with a carousel and bumper cars! There were several groups of men standing around talking. All the women were home getting lunch ready. The whole country shuts down from 1-4 pm.


 We made our way to Old Town where some of the buildings were ancient. They are all made of stone. There are many restaurants and caffès. 


This fountain in the middle of a town square, reminds me of a Tomie dePaola book where Strega Nona goes to place an ad for help.

We had a fantastic lunch in a sunny palazzo. Steve and Jeff took a break from pasta and had risotto! 



We walked back to the train station with the thought of going to the farmer’s market to make a charcuterie board for our dinner tonight. We returned to Polingnano a Mare to find all the markets closed. Jeff and Susie went back to the grocery store at 4:30 to pick up dinner. After dinner we took a walk to the very famous Lama Monachile beach. I don’t know if we are jaded in our reference point of beautiful beaches, but this highly photographed and visited beach was a bit disappointing. It’s very small and rocky. It is carved out by breathtaking ancient rocks that surround the beach. But you would not be able to spend the day sun bathing there. 



I can’t imagine putting a beach towel on this to take in the sun!

After dinner we took a walk back to Lama Monachili to see it at night. They are preparing for a bonfire for St Joseph’s Day on March 19th. We hope we will be here to see it! You know Steve loves a bonfire!


We finally had gelato today…signing off, we will talk more tomorrow.

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