An Australian couple travelling in Europe (2013+) in a motorhome (Bluey), exploring Australia in a caravan (2009-22) and a self built Isuzu expedition 4 x 4 motorhome (Buster) 2023+
Travelled: 114km to Bari Port, Italy
Stay: Ferry to Dubrovnik, Croatia
After a rainy night we got ready to drive to the Bari Port to see if we could get on tonight's ferry to Dubrovnik. On the way we managed to call the booking office and reserve an outside cabin for 2 for €360 (including Bluey of course). As the ticket office was not going to be open until 6pm, we stopped at the nearest beach town of Mola di Bari. We parked at the harbour and walked around the marbled streets of the old quarter. It was festival day and there were banners about and people catching up. It was a lovely atmosphere. We bought some fresh pasta for tonight before heading into Bari.
We stopped to do some shopping and then went to wait at the port. There were a couple of motorhomes already there, so we had a chat and did some cleaning and sorting.
Travelled:134km from Lecce to Alberobello
Visited:Lecce and Alberobello
Stay:Alberobello-parking €10/6hrs, €14/12hrs, €18/24hrs includes electricity and services (camper contact) GPS N40.782768 E17.234171
We had a quiet night and woke early mainly due to the fact that as the nights are so warm, we leave the blinds open which would cover the open skylights and a window. Unfortunately, although it made us feel secure, the gate was locked. So we had to wait for a couple of hours until 8:15am for someone to wake up to let us out.
Although we did get caught in a bit of traffic getting into Lecce, we found a spot at the Cemetery Parking by 9am, paid €2 for 3hrs and walked the 100m into the ancient part of town. It turns out well as the shops were only starting to open anyway. The town has a quaint feel to it with its marble paved streets and highly decorative Lecce Baroque style buildings. We enjoyed walking around to most of the main attractions and also having a look at the good quality pottery products as well as the ones made from paper-mache.
Near the end of our visit the 30°c start to the day changed dramatically with a thunder storm and heavy rainfall, of which we had not prepared for. So we had no option than to buy a couple of umbrellas from the street sellers. (They were quick to change from hats and selfie sticks).
In this area there are BLACK storks.
After getting back to Bluey relatively dry we set off to our next destination up North - Alberobello. We drove along the coast before heading inland to this pretty UNESCO World Heritage site due to its unique village made up of over 1,000 trulli buildings. Trulli's are made from the local limestone that are stacked without mortar, often circular in shape with whitewashed walls. But it is the conical styled roofs with their little pointed tops that make the village stand out. After waiting out another storm, we strolled along the narrow cobbled streets, peering into a few shops to look at the interior and domed ceilings within. We then managed to find a restaurant on the other side of the main road in the piazza and enjoyed local styled dishes for dinner before returning to Bluey to warm up!
It turned out to be an unexpected long day driving..our first destination was at the end of S407. Quite an easy drive costing only €2 just out of Pompeii. We got a glimpse of part of the Amalfi coast to Salerno, a big port town.
Pretty tiles on the lookout stops.
We then travelled in land and got away from the smog and enjoyed some pretty, pristine countryside. There were not many rest stops, but we did eventually stop. After lunch we continued to the end of S407 and went to have a look at some campgrounds in Metaponte. We weren't to keen to stop in the red hot sun, even if we had a beach front pitch, so we continued for another 2 hours on the S7Ter to Lecce.
We first travelled through lovely mountains and valleys.
Then we decended to the river.
We saw mant hill toptowns...no one wants to live down in the valley!
There were mant buildings that were abandoned or never finished being built.
As we approached the East Coast more gumtrees could be seen. Aling with the olive groves and vinyards.
There was also alot of wheat crops but not much wildlife to ve seen.
Some paets if the road was very pretty flabked with flowering Olianders
The huge port town of Taranto. This town is also known for its Tarantella Dance! To cure ypurzelf from the bite of the spider, you needed to dance to sweat out the poison!
markbuying some cheeries
We see fields of solar panels...
Camper Contact had a spot to park right in town, but when we got there, it was closed having become a building site! Such a pity as it was right next to the centre of town. So we did some quick research and decided on a Camper Stop spot, only to find that one also closed! At the end of a long day thats all we needed....so we decided to hedge our bets and go with a Camper Contact spot that had a rating of 8.5 and its own website...how could we go wrong?...our dear Camy took us down the most narrow lane flanked by boundry stone walls and over grown bushes!OMG ....she was nearly thrown out ..but sensibility prevailed as I know in the end she is invaluable... anyway as we had to do a 3 point turn to get into the driveway, we did wonder if this was the right place as it didn't quite meet expectations. I eventually was able to find a cook in the kitchen that managed to understand that we wanted to stay in the camper and I sort of understood that someone would be around tomorrow morning so I could pay... we found some shade and enjoyed a much deserved refreshing breverage and cooked some dinner. Then we hoped that the 'party' at the restaurant would be over by 11pm....time will tell.
