November 28; Under the Apulian Sky š®š¹
Enjoying the slow life in the heel of Italy... this was my week š
Buona Domenica,
Or Happy Sunday from this part of the world, as Ellie and I are wrapping up a gorgeous week of remote work and fun in Apulia.
I consider myself a bit of an Italy buff, having spent an unforgettable semester in Bologna back in my uni days, and although my Italian has become embarrassingly rusty, as I noticed this week, it still always feels a bit like coming home when Iām back in this country.
Neither of us had been to the Mezzogiorno, or the south of Italy before, and true to our out-of-season travel philosophy, we decided the best way to wrap up my November birthday month is to spend it in Apulia, working the days from a beautiful apartment in Bari that Ellie found on AirBnB, and enjoying the evenings and the weekend out in the countryside, driving around and visiting small towns and olive groves.
When Covid-19 came down early last year, one of its side effects for me was getting reimbursed almost a thousand euros in Wizz Air credits. The low-cost airline offers the most direct connections out of Sofia, and although I donāt usually fly them much, coincidentally in the spring of 2020 I had planned a couple of trips with Wizz for myself and a few friends. Of course, they all got cancelled, so I ended up getting reimbursed in credits, and since then Ellie and I have been regularly looking at Wizzās map of routes and timetables, to see where we could travel for what essentially feels like āfor freeā.
Bari is one of Wizzās twenty or so destinations out of Sofia, and with only an hour of flight time between Sofia and the capital of Apulia, itās an easy and quick escape.
Each time Iām back in Italy, I see new sides and angles to the unique way of life here. This time around itās all about appreciation for customs and traditions. In a world that seems so much in flux, our way of life is constantly changing due to some new technology or other, with new concepts changing the way we communicate, eat, travel, and work all the time. And then thereās always Italy, where the best restaurants still only take dinner reservations for 10pm, and cafes will only serve cappuccino until lunch.
When I was younger, I enjoyed making fun of these silly Italian rules, but as I grow older, Iāve started to appreciate them more and more. To me, the entire reason we all look up so much to Italian design and cuisine is exactly because there is so little compromise in Italyās culture about the way things are supposed to be done.
All in all, Ellie and I ate a lot of pasta and seafood, stayed in a beautiful Trullo in the Apulian countryside, discovered a really nice red wine variety, the Susumaniello native to this part of Italy, and spent many hours walking through nearly-deserted Monopoli, Polignano, Martina Franca, Locorotondo, Ostuni, and Alberobello.
A dopo Italia, and as always, grazie per tutto ā¤ļøš®š¹
Thanks for checking in today and talk to you next Sunday! š
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