Alberobello: a hard day
Here's another dream come true!
Somehow, spontaneously and by chance, we bought air tickets to Vizeair back in the spring. Promotion, cheap-rowing everything. What happened was tickets to Budapest, and from there to Bari. Back in the same way. Budapest is always in transit with us, they always couldn’t really see it, until now they haven’t even been to the Szé chenyi baths. And Bari? Yes, what is there to think, an ancient city in southern Italy, by the sea, in September, you must take it!
Later it turned out that Bari is of interest primarily to those who want to venerate the relics of St. Nicholas, that Bari is the largest port of the Adriatic and there are normal beaches 40 km from the city, that the region is not very touristy, that there are no mountains there and this the most flat part of Italy, that the region is not the most hospitable in terms of robberies, theft on the streets and opening cars. By the way, regarding the last point, we witnessed how they grab bags on scooters right in the city center. Furious is resting ; -)
And only then, upon arrival in Bari, we were a little embarrassed by the fact that in the parking lot of car rentals we noticed several cars with broken passenger windows...
Frustrated with the choice of air tickets, I began to prepare for the trip without much enthusiasm, but literally after a couple of weeks, during which I prepared our route, it became clear that there would be adventure! The cons very quickly overlapped with the pros - low prices for everything, no crowds of tourists, very interesting sights of the region, beautiful beaches, albeit at a distance from Bari, fresh fruit and much more. . .
It so happened by chance that I did not know the name of the town with fancy white houses that looked like beehives, but I just saved a photo from the Internet a long time ago and wanted to get there sometime. When preparing the route, it turned out that the dream is called Alberobello, and the white houses are trullo. And the dream "lives" 60 km from Bari. Getting there is not a problem, either by car for an hour or by railway transport - 1.5 hours one way from Bari. There was no particular problem with parking, not in the very center of the trullo, but there were free places.
There are trulli houses only in this region, in Puglia, but almost always alone. And only in Alberobello there is a whole city of trulli: quarters and streets, even a church of its own. It has been protected by UNESCO since 1996. It was here that there were many tourists, but in Puglia, and even in September, there are almost none.
So, there is no paid entrance here - just walk along the streets and look. People still live in many trulli, but most of the houses are still designed for tourists: they have restaurants, souvenir shops or hotel “rooms”. There is a big company - "Trullo Holiday" or something like that - they are the most famous hoteliers in Alberobello. Those who lived in Truly advised this particular company. It turns out that even in the south, these houses are quite cool even in summer, but in autumn you even need heating! And not everywhere it is.
You can go into the houses, inspect from the inside - as I wrote, they often have shops and restaurants. Souvenirs are not the cheapest in this region (cheaper in Polignano a Mare, Trani and Castellano Grotte, for sure), but the largest selection is here. The main regional souvenirs are pasta of different types (with wine, oranges, etc. of different colors), local pasta orecchiette-shells, liquors (I haven’t tried it), local crunchy bagels with various seasonings-taralli, and, of course, wine (variety “primitivo” -traditional wine of Puglia), ceramics. Pasta price: 2 EUR/piece, 3 pieces for 5 EUR. This is 500 gr. Also, textiles are rather original napkins, aprons, tablecloths with the image of the same trullo houses from 1.5-2 euros.
As for me, a visit to the town is a must for everyone who has already been able to get to Puglia or Bari. Allocate at least 3-4 hours to the town, 6 hours was enough for me ; -)
If you want to eat in the town, then I recommend La Cantina Vico Lippolis 8 (ang. Corso Vittorio Emanuele), Alberobello. There is not the largest selection of dishes here, but all dishes are local and everything is cooked right in front of you, the chef often serves dishes himself and talks about how and with what it goes best. Not many seats, always full of people. But, consider the siesta! She can leave you hungry!
There are also many interesting places nearby, we didn’t visit all of them: Gastelana Grote (a huge cave), Locorotondo (an old “white” town, wine), Fasano (zoo safari), Monopoli (beautiful beaches begin and stretch to the youngest cape of Puglia), Polignano a Mare (beach in the grotto, beautiful and cozy old town).
A bit of history from the net: trulli, resembling fabulous houses, are located in two districts of the city - in the Monti area and in the Ayia Pikkula area. The main feature of the buildings is that they were erected without the use of any strengthening solutions, and this was not done by chance. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Kingdom of Naples had a law imposing a special tax on all urban settlements. To save on taxes, the Akvaviva dynasty ruling the city forbade its peasants to build strong houses using cement. Local residents found a way to organize a roof over their heads and at the same time please the ruling feudal lords. They came up with round-shaped houses with domed roofs lined with stones, which were easy to destroy if tax collectors came to the settlement. The trulli domes were decorated with domes of various shapes, which, according to some scientists, testified to the skill of the builder and the class to which the owner of the house belonged. . In addition, the domes were decorated with special mystical signs, which can still be seen on the roofs of perfectly preserved trullia.
Such a city, such impressions. The town is very worthy, I recommend to visit!
