Tour Puglia

 I was tossing up whether to try to visit another town or find something else to do - a cooking class?(booked out and hell expensive), a walking tour (booked out and hell expensive) - and spotted a e-cycle tour for three hours in the afternoon. Sounded like a bit of me.

I arranged to meet the tour guide in a nearby carpark - turned out it was just me and him - Rocco. The plan was to cycle the longest aqueduct in Europe - or at least a part of it. 

As I've mentioned before, and not in an unkind way to dig at Auckland,  it doesn't rain much in Puglia, en fact, to the extent that there are often droughts. The economy is based on olive oil, wine  - fruit and veg, and these need water. Water for agriculture has always been a major issue  - the main rock material Puglia is limestone, low and sandy, so any rain just drains away. There are only two main rivers in the area, and these are in the north of Puglia. So, in 1860 an  engineer came up with the crazy idea of piping water from the Sele River in Campania to Puglia  - the idea was controversial and not everyone was on board - then he died, the politician who was on board with the idea also died, the concept stagnated for 50 years or so and was finally started in 1906, completing in 1939 give or take a couple of wars. 

The pipes are 2189 kms long and provide 250 million cubic metres to Puglia each year. And my cycle tour was on a path on top of the water pipes.  The area is closed off as a cycle/ pedestrian route, scenic, little  farmlets, more trulli.

Rocco and I set off on our e-bikes, single file, stopping for me to pepper him with questions. But first we feasted on figs - it's late in the season so the fruit that hasn't dropped or been picked is drying very nicely on the trees.

It was a bit of a foraging session really. I asked about almonds, wondering (as you do) whether all of the trees that we see are olives or whether some are almonds - and lo! There was an almond tree and Rocco climbed the rock wall, tossing down almonds to smash open.

He grabbed some of those prickly pear cactus fruit which I kept at arm's distance given the propensity to stain. Actually it was a foraging cycle tour...

Pepper trees and carob trees. He grabbed some pods and we stood there chomping on them (they taste like carob). And here's a thing. 

 The seeds are so uniform in size and weight that they were used in the (ancient) markets as a standard measuring weight particularly for weighing precious stones. And this Dear Reader is the basis for the word 'carat' for weighing gold and jewels to this day. You know how I love these details, but isn't that interesting? I tell you, Rocco - a font of knowledge!! En plus, the seeds are used to make a gluten free flour.

We tried little wild pears (they tasted like a pear, were the size of a cherry but had an incredible tannin effect in the mouth)  - and spotted chestnuts on the trees.

Rocco explained that the trulli with the flattened roof were usually granaries for wheat - the steps up the side of the roof were for dropping the grain in - and on these farms, there was also a flattened area where the wheat was laid out, and then crushed by a large wheel pulled by mules - the next wind would blow the chaff away, leaving the grain to be ground for flour.

Historically when the trulli were constructed, a cistern for water collection was made first as the base of the house - if you zoom in on the photos, you can see the organised gullies between the conical roofs, and the rain water would funnel down into the water cisterns, and then the well would be used to retrieve it. There is also a considerable water table between the limestone upper and the karst lower strata, and any springs would be tapped into to provide water.

And then Rocco spotted a brand new 'bar' beside the trail - we cycled a bit further (up to 3 hours at this point) and he said, 'well, we could continue for a few more kilometres, but it is the same.. or we could go back and have an aperol spritz' - put like that, who could deny it was a good solution? 

So spritz, and bruschetta, and as the sun went down, we jumped back on the bikes and rode back through the narrow walled lanes in the dark. Well, you know, with the bike lights in the dark. Locorotondo looked amazing all lit up on the hill. Such a gorgeous place. When you come to Puglia,  and I'm sure you will, go cycling with Rocco - link below!!

https://www.getyourguide.co.uk/italy-l169011/e-bike-tour-along-the-apulian-aqueduct-cycleway-t490622/?ranking_uuid=06bab575-2557-4881-a594-555be7c0a7f4

One more bit of information - we talked about the beautiful taste of the tomatoes in this region - obviously the iron/ potassium rich soil, the sun - but in addition, the water used for the intense agriculture is a mixture of sea and brackish water - a low concentration of the salt water, but he reckons it is that small part of salt in the water that adds to the taste - let's try that out on our vegetable gardens!

(Rocco said I MUST get to Ostuni...)

Fabulous day, loved it!