Day 13 to Alberobello




Today was not a good day, the ride could be described as Russian roulette with terrible Italian drivers and I was grumpy mcgrumpy.
I was stiff, sore and tired when we set off and had barely warmed up when we arrived in Matera, the ‘city of stone’ and unbelievably awful drivers. We left the bikes with the van and Wally on guard duty, then had a wander around the UNESCO listed ‘Sassi’ houses.





All very interesting and beautiful but I’m not entirely convinced it was worth the terrifying cycle ride. A Nutella doughnut and cappuccino vaguely cheered me up and then it was off to bounce along the potholes for 30 miles to lunch. Bizarrely the location chosen for today’s picnic was in a grotty play area next to a horrible apartment block. I ate my lunch at warp speed and pedalled off on my own to get the riding over with. The last 17 miles managed to be straight, boring, potholed and scary with the final straw being lunged at by a snappy terrier. My only photo from the ride is suitably grumpy with one of the ‘trulli’ houses in front of one of the many derelict, ugly buildings!

Alberobello is a strange and picturesque hobbit like town with ‘trulli’ clustered together, many of them selling tourist tat, all part of the UNESCO status presumably.







My grumpiness fortunately subsided as we wandered around, found a lovely bar, a delicious dinner and the best grump cure...



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