We were the only ones staying in our BnB last night. The breakfast of scrambled eggs was great and helped to satisfy the disappointment of last evening`s meal. At 10 o`clock we let ourselves out of the building and began riding the one way streets of Maruggio to the SP128 highway leading out of town. The road was lined with fields of olive trees and grape vines. The odd Trulli hut in the fields also makes you certain that the land has been farmed for centuries. The morning temperatures warmed up quickly in the sun, making for very nice cycling conditions.
Our route today was a fairly straight line on a map between Maruggio and Crispiano. We tried to keep the distance manageable while limiting the amount of highway riding. The first 10KM were on a highway with a good shoulder and then we turned off the SP128 onto rural, car free backroads for the next 20KM. We then rejoined busier roads for the climb up to the town of Montemesola and then on to Crispiano. The traffic was still pretty light for the last 20KM. An afternoon cloud blocking the sun also helped keep things cooler as we completed the hillier section of the ride.
Our BnB at Muruggio was a really nice place to stay. Only a few steps to carry the bikes up today.
Scott AndersonThey’re a cousin of trulli, but these conical but flat topped structures are known as pajare. You’ve probably also seen rectangular but flat-topped ones like this, which are lamie. Its remarkable to have three different dry stone structures like this in such a small region. Reply to this comment 1 week ago
Ancient olive tree. There are many olive trees in this area of all ages. Some fields are still being planted with new ones. Olives and their oil are an important part of the economy of many small towns.
A long, straight car free ride! Olive trees on the left and a strange small gully on the right that attracts the dumping of building demolition material. On open source maps, the road is marked ¨Ciclovia Dell'Acquedotto Pugliese¨ but we did not see any signage to confirm that this was part of a cycle route.
We saw this sign a few times on the car free road. Translation is tricky - except frontists. A frontist may be someone who lives in the area and overlooks the road. We are not sure if we should have been cycling there!
We had a hard time finding the center of Crispiano, but after circling around we did arrive at this piazza -the Chiesa Madre Santa Maria della Neve. We were happy to get a beer at a restaurant on the left because there did not seem to be much happening in this town.
We had some difficulty connecting with our host at the BnB as she was not there at our planned checkin time. But when we did finally meet she let us into the building and the space worked out very well. Getting through the front door at some BnBs can require a lot of communication with the host and Pat does a great job at this.
Restaurant finding in Crispiano was also a bit of a challenge. After walking around the town centre we were almost ready to give up when we went by a place that at first we thought was a butcher shop. The front area had various cuts of meat behind glass but there was seating was in the back! We found the service, food and the bottle of chianti at La Cuccagna - Giro di Vite to be very good. Certainly this meal made up for our poor performance the night before.
