October 9, 2024
Alberobello Unesco World Héritage Site
Trulli land!
Last night in our interpretive walk around the grounds. we were told that when they excavated for the building, they discovered some R0man and pre-Roman ruins, from 200 years BCE up to 5 AD. We were also shown some olive trees that were approx. 1,000 years old! We had to pay our respects to those old geezers on the way out.
The area we are in is based upon limestone and has been eaten away (karsted) by acidic rain over the years so that there are huge ravines running through the land (see Matera entry!). So as soon as we left the farm we stayed on (it was 85 hectares!) we saw the first ravine bridge that we should take.
Not sure how to get up there but we started out with a nice fast descent. Lots of fun! Until my gps started blaring that I had missed the turn. Ouch. Back up that fun hill. The turn off though was rather hidden, no wonder I missed it.
So Marjory is trudging up that "fun hill" and decides to photograph me as I make the turn onto the bridge we were supposed to be on.
It was a wonderful trail starting at this bridge and running for about 5 km, on an old train bed which means about a 2 degree gradient, in this direction, down. Nice.
To the left of us was the new train bridge, with lots of trails up the side. We were hoping we would not be on them soon. You can see though how deep this ravine really is. This entire section of Puglia is like this.
And in the ravine's other direction, there is another crossing (highway?).
Once we were done coasting down this long, shallow grade, we came to the interesting town of Palagianello, clearly built on top of some previous ruins. After entering town, we began our first big hill of the day. Just a breeze today, and not hot yet, so the hill was not too bad at all.
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Once out of "ravine-land", the geography changed radically to gently rolling farmland, always lined by stones.
The stone walls do not use mortar at all, being held together by the varied sizes of stones and gravity alone. I don't know if they were dug up by clearing these fields (likely) or are from quarries, but they are a demarcation of farms, sub-sections, and roadways. For how many centuries I wonder?
We had a brief lunch stop at a cafe recommended by the gps, which was much better than yesterday's "bar". As I was leaving the cafe though, I was struck by the size of the cars in the parking lot. I wonder what Europeans think when they come to Alberta and see huge pickup trucks everywhere?
It was about this time when we saw our first "trullo", the ancient stone huts that are still used for storage and were originally dwellings as well. As we got closer and closer to Alberobello, the frequency of sightings increased. The original ones date back to ancient Greece.
After a bit of a hill, I was waiting for Marjory when the local welcoming committee came to say hello. They were wondering if I had an apple for them, but alas, no.
Be prepared for lots of trulli (plural) photos. They are being built anew as well, perhaps because they know tourists like them. This place about 5 km from Alberobello looked to be newly built, and might be a hotel or restaurant.
Then there are the "working trulli", like on this farm.
We even saw some in fields.
Finally in Alberbello, we came to truly trulli heaven. There is a center of town with almost as many trulli as there are tourists - and there are hordes of tourist. Oh wait, we're tourists.
So, being tourists, we get a hotel room - in a trullo.
They have thick, thick walls (up to 2 meters) and almost no windows, so the A/C is essential (and works well).
Tomorrow we spend the day in this town looking at trulli. I just might have a few more trulli pics to show.
Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 108 km (67 miles)
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