Gotta keep up with me

 And.. on the move again.  Another day of travelling yesterday. 

Walk to the Ostuni bus stop - bus to the Ostuni train station - train to Lecce - caffe lecesse & pasticotto while I wile away an hour - train to Gallipoli which is (not in Turkey) on the west coast of Puglia. (Sorry, i have to keep pointing that out, soooo many people presume it is the one associated with ANZAC etc).

I'm in the old town in the most beautiful apartment - beautifully decorated, spacious, terasa and mezzanine bedroom. Loving it. There is even a well in the portico before ascending the stairs to the apartments. B & B Corte Kampanes if you are ever over in this part of the woods.

 The old town is joined to the new part by a bridge, and was a fortified city in its time. Surrounded by little fishing boats, streets with ochre coloured buildings. Washing hanging out windows, vintage vespas, beautiful linen shops.. what more could I want.

Of course the menus are full of seafood dishes, which, as those who know me well, do not react well with me. But that's ok - there is orecchiette with fresh tomato and burrata.

Travelling alone is mostly great, but sometimes tricky when trying to get a table in a restaurant when owners want to maximise bums on seats. I was sitting front of house waiting for my meal last night and saw a woman asking for a table for one. 'No', shrug of shoulders, not possible tonight (even though there were tables free), so I checked with the waiter if that was indeed the question, and offered for the woman to share my table. A Polish woman travelling alone, and we joked about this and other subtle issues that we notice. When I was planning coming here I was trying to book a day's cycle tour and the website defaulted to two people. It wasn't possible to book for just one. I guess we ruin their numbers. (I'm going on that tour tomorrow- amazing what you can do when you stalk a company and email them directly). She was grateful for the table and the company and I'm sure we will bump into each other again.

This is a magnificent little town, I'm enjoying wandering around and cannot stop seeing things to capture on camera. Fishing town, catholic town, Relics in the streets.

This morning I leapt out of bed at 6;30 to go walking - I was told there is a good beach nearby. Things are contextual, and NZ does good beaches. It had all the fun of the fair, and ... well, the beach... I've been spoiled by Croatia. It seems there is another one further on, but I'd walked enough and decided a coffee was more important. 

And that's an interesting cultural thing. Croatia you sit in a cafe, waiter comes to you, brings coffee and bill, you just leave the money on the table when you are done. But you take your time over the ritual of the morning coffee. Here, you order at one end of the cafe, walk to the other end with the order paper, receive your coffee and drink it quickly at the counter and leave. Pronto.  I guess you could sit, but this scenario seems to be the most common. Croatia you get a glass of water with your coffee. Not so here. Coffee is good though, and I rely on my morning hit. I'm having caffe lecesse which is almond syrup over ice, then an espresso shot on top. Delicious.