Conversano/Novoli

Our last couple of days in Conversano didn’t go quite as planned as I came down with the lurgy which meant much lying about and not eating.

I did try to continue our travel itinerary by having Steve drive us to Polignano a Mare, a beautiful and ancient seaside town 15 minutes drive from Conversano.

Unfortunately after about 10 minutes of wandering around, I started to feel awful and it took all my willpower to struggle back to the car without passing out.

I did manage to get into the car, only to exit it again 5 minutes later to be heartily sick by the side of a tree. Apparently a family saw and crossed to the other side of the road to avoid me!

The joy of staying somewhere comfortable is that once we got back, I could at least lie around in an air conditioned room and Steve could lie by the pool. Not like the time Steve was ill in Turkey and we were staying basically in a hovel. Not nice.

Anyway, I’m pretty much back to normal today apart from having a few gripes and a reduced appetite. It grieves me when I can’t do justice to a delicious sweet Italian breakfast but one cake was all I could manage.

We had a final lounge around the pool and then it was off to Novoli, our new home for our last 5 nights. We want to explore the southern most part of the heel and it’s a good strategic place to stay.

Our new abode took some finding. We knew we were in the right street but there was nothing that looked like the pictures on the website. After the second time of driving around, a very rotund gentleman poked his head out of a green door and invited us in.

The house is something of a tardis. It looks nothing from the outside but inside it’s huge and has a large garden with a pool. He showed us our apartment which is ..ahem..rustic, but has everything we need. (Except an oven).

It didn’t take us long to settle in and I endeared myself to fellow holiday makers by stealing two bedchairs that I’m pretty sure they had earmarked for themselves. Sorry but unless you’re actually sat on it, it’s not yours. Anyway, you’re amateurs, you didn’t put a towel on it.

I’m sure it was just a coincidence that one of the bedchair hoggers informed our host that she would be leaving in the morning, they’d found something cheaper. Excellent, those sunbeds are definitely ours.

Our very charming hosts then treated us all to cakes and moscato. Yum, my new favourite drink. A very cold, sweet wine served as an aperitif- don’t mind if I do.

Eventually Steve and I managed to rouse ourselves and go food shopping. I wowed Steve with my marvellous grip on Italian by having a three word conversation with the butcher at the meat counter. We came away with 4 sausage and salami burgers, very delicious they were too.

After dinner we had a quick wander round Novoli . Hmm, a strangely depressing sort of place but difficult to say why. Seems like the sort of place people drive through rather than stay in. No matter, we shall stay in our tardis oasis and shall venture out on expeditions only.

We have a dilemma tomorrow. It’s going to be sweltering – 37degrees – but we’ve been told because it’s Sunday, the beaches will be heaving so should we go into Lecce and explore this jewel in Puglia’s crown, bearing in mind we may well fry?

First world problems as our sons would say.