Welcome back to “When Wine Calls” from Puglia.
Buongiorno!
In our blog on the Scottish Highlands, I outlined the fun we had when we picked up the hire car in Edinburgh and driving on “Single Track Roads”. As you are all aware now, we managed to survive that journey after we worked out how to find reverse with a manual gear stick and to close the side mirrors for parking in tight spaces. With that experience under our belt, we picked up the hire car at Bari Airport confident that we would be able to operate this car without any problems and only deal with the challenge of driving on the opposite side of the road compared to that in Scotland or Australia.
At Bari Airport we were given an SUV for the trip which was larger than what we had envisaged and although it was great in fitting all our luggage in the boot, I was nervous about how wide it was given what I had read about the narrow roads in the Puglia region. I also assumed that reverse in this car would be like that of the previous car, but I was wrong – to move into reverse on the previous car required you to push down on the gear lever and then across and down but in this car, you instead needed to pull a lever under the gear stick knob up then move the gear stick across and down.
Sounds simple enough now but not when the car manual in the glove box is in Italian and you have the car sideways across a road just outside the airport trying to do a 3-point turn as the GPS on Pauline’s mobile had sent you down the wrong road – a stressful start to our road trip. Sincere thanks goes to my darling wife who again came to the rescue and quickly searched online for the required information “in English”.
The other challenge we had was that even though the car was relatively new it had the older wider USB ports which meant we could not connect Pauline’s mobile through Airplay to display GPS directions on the car’s screen. Pauline contacted our Emergency Help Desk (ala our son William) who sent us a picture of what type of cable was required and where to get one along the highway – many thanks William for getting us out of a jam once again. In the interim, we had no option but to head south through the complex streets of Bari with Pauline shouting out the directions. By the time we finally hit the highway I was sweating profusely.
We eventually had the confidence to call into the service centre on the highway and picked up the correct cable which made all the difference for the rest of touring around Puglia. We will remember to take this cable on future road trips along with the many other cables and adaptors and back-up cables you need when you travel – a Queensland couple we met later in the trip also came to that realisation but that is for a later blog.
We still have several hire cars during the remainder of this trip, and I am determined not to leave the car park next time until I know exactly how to get in reverse and have the GPS working. For those of you reading this blog that intend on hiring a manual car overseas, since you are never sure until you pick up the car what vehicle you will be driving, please don’t rely on assuming it operates the same as your own car nor that the vehicle manual will assist you.
While driving down the highway we also quickly realised, with cars whizzing past us as if we were standing still and receiving many honks in the process, that in this part of the world speed limit signs appear to be ignored for the most part and you need to have your wits about you as they come from the clouds passing you without warning. I was trying to ensure I stayed on the right side of the road particularly when you came to the numerous roundabouts you encounter without also having to watch the rear mirrors as well. It was a long 4 hour drive on the first day but now, as I write this blog having driven a significant number of km’s in the past week we are more of a “local” and a lot more comfortable driving around including along the narrow roads and through the unpredictable roundabouts – the challenge now will be when we return to Australia as I will need to reprogram myself to drive back on the left amongst drivers sticking to the speed limit and certainly along wider roads.
After several days sightseeing around Puglia, we had to fill up the car at one of the many service centres located on the main roads. In Puglia all the pumps are automatic, and you fill up and pay at the pump, the only issue is that the instructions to operate are all in Italian and until you obtain a $ value reservation on your card the pump will not operate. Pauline again came to the rescue taking a picture of the instructions on her mobile (see picture opposite) and used “translate” to work out what we needed to do while the person in the car behind us was watching on in amusement or frustration (not sure which).
We eventually got the pump to operate, congratulated ourselves for resolving another Italian challenge, hopped in the car and drove off. Despite these challenges it certainly has been a lot of fun driving in Puglia and we now laugh to ourselves about the various incidents as they have become highlights of the trip – the best highlight being the instructions issued by the lady on the GPS who simply has no idea how many exits are in each roundabouts or that dirt goat tracks should not constitute part of the “shortest route” to your destination.
Our first stop in Puglia was not far from the little village of Villa Convento, about 20 minutes from the regional town of Lecce. We had booked a farmhouse called Filippo de Raho Agri Relais, a fig tree property, that has been in the family for five generations.
When we first arrived at the property gate, we weren’t too sure we were at the correct place as it was a narrow dirt road heading over a rail line leading down to what first impressions seemed like a white compound looking building rather than a farmhouse.
However, when we reached the building, we were warmly greeted at the large front entry doors by the owner, Filippo, who showed us around the property totalling allaying our concerns, and what a property it was. After the tour we were so excited to be spending four nights here – it was even more that what we had anticipated when we had booked the property online.
That night we enjoyed a swim in the fabulous pool drinking Aperol Spitz’s for Happy Hour followed by a magnificent dinner in the Secret Garden under the stars with party lights lighting up the garden – it was such a wonderful introduction to this part of Puglia.
Late the next morning, we decided to drive around some of the tiny towns surrounding Villa Convento and nearby Lecce and we soon worked out that timing is important in this region as all shops in the towns close around 1.00pm for siesta and do not reopen to around 5pm including cafes. We did, however, find a small café open in a little town called Magliano and the owners were so good in offering us cappuccinos and croissants despite the fact they were cleaning up ready to close. It turned out to be one of the nicest cappuccinos we have had on the trip.
Throughout our travels through Puglia, we have found all the locals so friendly and accommodating and if you attempt to speak a bit of Italian, they will make the attempt to speak enough English and it works out – it certainly has not been as difficult to communicate here as we had anticipated. We have only had to resort to “translation” on our mobiles on a few occasions with, I must say, somewhat humorous results.
We had deliberately based ourselves at Filippo de Raho Agri Relais to explore the southern area of Puglia and over the days we were there we drove both to the east and west coasts and how different they were.
On the East Coast we went to a coastal beach resort called Mora Mora Beach and went into a Lido beach club for our first swim in the clear warm blue waters of the Adriatic (not without some language issues initially as we were not aware of the reservation process for using the sunlounges but eventually worked through it – another story in itself for a later blog about Lido’s in Puglia), then onto a lovely town, Otranto, where we had a spectacular light seafood lunch.
On return to the farmhouse, I had booked a massage for late in the afternoon and to my surprise they arranged the table outside in an open courtyard adjacent to the pool – it was so peaceful and relaxing with the lady having to wake me up at the end. The restaurant in the Secret Garden was closed that night but Filippo instead made us up a hamper of cold meats and cheeses to have with a bottle of local Puglia wine.
On our last day at Filippo de Raho Agri Relais we drove over to the West Coast initially to call in on Gallipoli. However, when we sighted how big the town was, we decided against driving into the town and diverted instead to a little town called Racale that we had read about that was off the normal tourist trail. After navigating through the very narrow streets, we eventually located the piazza area of the old town and on one corner was this little café that initially looked closed but when we looked through the door the owner immediately came out and greeted us like family welcoming us inside for a fabulous cappuccino – a great find.
Most of the beaches we saw on this side of Puglia were rocky and more exposed to the prevailing wind. We also saw an abandoned fishing trawler washed up on the beach which we weren’t sure whether it had been used by boat people in the past coming ashore. Since the wind was up, we decided after touring around to drive back across country through what turned out to be a plethora of local towns to get back to the eastern coast – the only issue was that the GPS took us through places that only locals would know and down roads you would hardly call a road.
At the end of the off-road rally, cursing the GPS’s weakness in this area, we came out at the coast south of Otranto with signs pointing to Grotto Zinzulusa. We had no idea what the attraction was, but we located a car space and went to investigate. It turned out to be a magnificent limestone grotto (cave) cut into the coastal cliffs with guided tours conducted – it was an unbelievable place to visit and quite unexpected. On the way out I got hit by a wave splashing up over the narrow entry path and ended up drenched to drive back to the farmhouse but given the hot day it was not unwelcomed.
We had had a great day of exploring and headed back to the farmhouse for a swim amongst the fig trees and a final night dinner under the stars in the Secret Garden to conclude our wonderful time here.
Following breakfast the next morning we reluctantly said goodbye to Filippo de Raho Agri Relais as we had booked accommodation further north to explore the central region of Puglia having had the best few days embracing this wonderful area and falling in love with the farmhouse, Fillippo and his tremendously friendly staff – it was both magical and unexpected, and we could not but leave some of our heart there when we headed back down the narrow dirt road and over the railway crossing for the last time still unsure whether the flashing lights really work when a train is approaching – all part of the charm of this area.
We will catch you again soon as we continue our adventures through Puglia.
Ciao!
Bruce & Pauline
When Wine Calls 
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