Buongiorno Italia

Good morning from Italy! 

Our long haul flight arrived uneventfully at Milan Malpensa on time. The Italians have made inefficiency an art form. They had an attendant to man the 2 very slow automatic passport gates...Despite being only about 20 from the front when we joined the line, it took about 10 minutes to get through immigration. By the time we got to the luggage carousel, our suitcases were out. 

We had 5 hours to kill before our next flight and somehow managed to have to run to our gate to make our flight...we made it with 6 minutes to spare before the gate closed. Still not sure how that happened! Our last flight would see us land at Bari airport. We decided to chance it with Ryanair and our flight arrived on time, with suitcases coming out immediately. Super relieved that all 3 flights departed as scheduled and that all suitcases made it as well.

Sunrise from the plane

Our spot at Milan airport for 2 and a half hours while waiting for the Ryanair counter to open

Apparently the outfit that I changed into didn't make the cut for acceptability by Lara's standard. This was the offending feature...I looked like an out of date tennis player 😂 according to her and yes she made me fix my socks

The small Priority Pass lounge at the Schengen area of MXP. People seem to cycle through quite quickly so there was always seats available.

The food section

My lunch...

From business class to budget. We're definitely not snobs

Yes we made it. We are in Puglia

When I first looked at the Puglia leg of our trip, it was hard finding excursions that started from Polignano a Mare rather than Bari or one of the other bigger towns. Fortunately I found Pugliamare, a local company based in Puglia, and through them organised a transfer from Bari airport, a boat tour as well as a cooking class, a tour of Matera and Alberobello as well as a Bari food tour, all for less than other similar tours found on viator and the like. They were easy to deal with and the contacts I've dealt with had good English. Our driver was waiting for us at the airport and we were soon on our way for the 45 minute drive to Polignano a Mare. The drive reminded me why I refuse to drive in Italy...and we were also glad that we opted for the plane rather than train. By this stage (3pm!) we were really tired, we had seemingly been travelling forever. 

Our home for the next few days was Anfora Dei Segreti, a lovely ground floor studio apartment in Polignano a Mare. We were able to self check in and it was a bonus to discover that a breakfast coffee and pastry at one of the local coffee shops was included as part of our stay!

Lara and I struggled from here on to stay awake. We forced ourselves to go outside for natural sunlight exposure to combat jetlag, even if it meant getting hot sweaty. Fortunately our apartment was an easy walk to the main strip and view points. Even more fortunate, was that we were able to find some tasty focaccia to take back for dinner. Our aim was to stay awake until 6pm...as I type my eyes are slowly dropping...zzzz

So relieved to be driven to our apartment...

Our small but lovely studio

Large bathroom

The all important laundry

Streets of Polignano a Mare

Walking to a view point

The caves of Polignano a Mare

The Adriatic Sea. The water looked so blue and so inviting!

Our dinner. Simple but tasty and filling