Day 3 Up to the Trulli's

June 16:  Today, we leave our hotel for 3 nights, our luggage which has not yet come, and the seaside of Monopoli for the heights of Coreggia and Alberobello and finally to the wine center and hill town of Locorotonda.  Our ride was about 21 miles with over 2,000 feet of elevation gain.  The ride started with a sustained climb from sea level to near 1,500 feet elevation, through olive groves.  We climbed up one large switch back to a saddle.  Just before the saddle, the wind greeted us with a "stiff breeze."  It was to accompany us for the rest of the day, surprisingly always blowing at us.

Our first major destination was about 10 kilometers uphill to San Michele, then along the ridge line to Santa Lucia.  We skirted the edge of Santa Lucia and proceeded next to Coreggia, where we stopped for lunch supplies and coffees.  We visited the one store and the one sparkling new cafe in the village.  Speeding cars, which are something of a nuisance for us on the narrow roads, sped through the village without slowing.  We next went to Alberobello, which is a major tourist attraction known as the "Trulli" capital of the world.

A "trulli" is a stone building with a conical roof made of stones.  The masons, who must be quite skilled, create a a cone of stones that is finished on the outside with blocks like pavers or slates.  The trulli can be combined together to make a larger living or storage space and often have stone decorations at the peak.  Alberobello has several streets lined with trullis selling tourist souvenirs.  

Before walking a little around town, we had a picnic in a park of fresh bread, salami, cheese, fruits, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.  We strolled up the touristy street to a church at an high point, and wove our way around and down back to our bicycles.

Our ride to Locorotondo was undulating with a few short climbs and dips.  The final mile or so was uphill to the old town portion of Locorotondo, which is very much a hill town.  We swept around part of the edge with great views to the southeast.  All of the buildings are painted white.  We found  the Reception office for our hotel,  which had a bike garage next door.  We are all staying in various extraordinary apartments scattered about in the old town.  Betsy and I have number 45, a one level floor plan with the kitchen and bath in front by the door, next room is the bedroom, and a third room back is a second single-person bedroom.  I have made this last room our changing room.  The structure is built of stone blocks and arches, all painted white.  We have a front door, two little air vents and a skylight in the back room but no other windows.  The room is quiet except for birds and passing foot traffic but a little short on cross-ventilation.  Dennis and Leslie's flat is on an outside wall with a tiny terrace overlooking the countryside, while Mark and Kathy have a flat up several steep flights of stairs.

Mark, Dennis and I were wandering around the old town looking for a grocery store, when we got a message from Pietro that he arrived with our luggage. O Joy!  I theorized that the lost baggage contractor at Rome Airport, who is hired by British Airways, only delivers recovered baggage to Rome, all other bags are given to DHL, the worldwide delivery service, which then treats the baggage as "parcels."  Thus, delivery for most parcels take 3 or 4 days.  In any event, the bags' zippers were all zip-tied and each bag had a shipping label applied which identified they were being handled by DHL.

We had happy hour on the Osters 'wind-tunneled' deck (it is about 4 feet wide and 12 feet long with a nice view to the south).  The gusty wind, which blew all day, continued to blow well into the night.  We had dinner at Tanya's (our hotel receptionist) recommended restaurant, which was quite good.