The journey home

There was a brief thundershower in the early morning to cool the temperature, and we had a lovely last walk through town. Our driver picked us up at noon for the drive back to the airport.
We had heard about the fire at Rome airport, so were a little apprehensive about our flight. Luckily for us the airport had reopened and we were flying into a different terminal.
We were staying in an airport hotel, and had just missed the shuttle. Apparently there is a set tariff for cabs from the airport, 35 euro even if like us you're only going a few miles. Luckily as we were looking for the shuttle, an "unofficial. " cab approached us and offered us the ride for 15 euro.
We had a relaxing night at the Golden Tulip hotel, enjoying their restaurant over-looking the pool and garden.
The next day was anything but relaxing. About half of British Airways flights from Rome to London were cancelled, but ours was still flying. The hotel shuttle took us to Terminal 5, as Terminal 3 was not usable. The terminal was chaos, as it wasn't set up to accommodate the hoards of people. Everyone had to wait outside the terminal until they were ready to deal with their flight. Of course every-one was still trying to push their way in! Once inside there was a line-up to get into the next room, where there was another lineup to check-in. The baggage had to be loaded on carts and taken out of the terminal. The airport employees were doing their best under very trying conditions, they had people coming around offering water and snacks. Once we finally got checked it it didn't take long to get through security, and get a bus to another terminal where we boarded our flight. There was more delay to wait for baggage, as much of the usual equipment couldn't be used.. Our flight departed 2 hours late, and as we had a 2 hour 15 min connection at Heathrow we were a little nervous! We arrived at Heathrow with about 20 min to make our connection. Luckily as there were quite a few people connecting from Rome, they held the plane for us. Most amazingly, when we arrived in Vancouver our luggage had made it as well!
The hectic return couldn't take away from a wonderful trip.
Now, back to work!

Ostuni and Alberobello

Today we had a full day tour to the best known towns in this area of Puglia. We had a car and driver, Michelle who picked us up at 8:30am for the 30 min drive to Ostuni. It's already quite hot, the farmers are happy as it's good for the cherrys which are the main crop along with almonds and olives. The countryside is mainly farmland with many dry-stone walls and old farm buildings, Masseria, or Trulli.
Ostuni is a beautiful white town built on a hill. Lots of little twisting streets with many tourist shops and restaurants as well as churches and museums. We had thought the small streets were pedestrian only, but they aren't! It's surprising the cars don't have more scrapes. Most cars are very small, including 1 passenger Smart cars! We then headed to Martina Franca, another town with a beautiful town centre with many winding streets and lovely buildings. It was very hot (about 30C) so we tried to walk in shady streets,and stopped for gelato.
We then drove on through the rolling hills with fields of olive trees and many flowers to Alberobello which is know for it's trullios, a cone shaped building with a pointy roof. Apparently they are built so if 1 stone or brick is removed the whole building falls down. (this way if the tax man comes, you can quickly reduce the number of buildings on your property!) It was very hot, so we had beer & pizza in the shade before having a look around. Today was about 30, but in summer 40C is quite common! Many of the trullos in Alberobello have now been turned into tourist shops, restaurants, or even holiday rentals. Lots of pasta, olive oil, and locally made wine and liquors for sale.
It was about a 1/2 hour drive back to Conversano for a rest before dinner.
We had our last dinner in Conversano sitting outside in the square across from the castle. Every-one in town seems to either sit on a bench or promenade around the square. We saw our chefs Marina & Marta with their daughters and Marina's husband, and they came over to say hello & wish us a good journey back home.

Conversano Cooking Class

We spent the day exploring more of Conversano, visiting several museums and having an assortment of anitpasta for lunch at a restaurant that stayed open just for us! Being a small town everything closes from about 1:30 till 4, so we had a rest like the rest of the town. We were picked up in the late afternoon and taken to a farm at the edge of town for our cooking class. There were the 4 of us, plus 3 from Germany, so it was quite the international group! The chef's were Marina who's farm it was, Mara, and Granata (Marina's mother). The cooking classes are a 2nd job for Marina & Mara, and they do it because it's something they enjoy. Their class was very informal and fun. We made (or watched being made) foccacia, a pasta called Cavatelli with a white bean puree and eggplant, bread-balls with tomato sauce and for desert Sporcamuss, which means "dirty face", it's a pastry with custard inside which squirts out when you bite.
In the middle we had a break for wine, cheese, olives and biscuits called taralli. We sat outside in the farm courtyard with the stone floor and lemon trees and watched their cats at play. The farm is about 500 years old, built of stone like everything around here.
When we had finally finished our cooking, we sat down to feast with Marina & Mara's family, with talk in 3 languages, and everyone managing to understand each other. We finished with home-made limoncella, and walnut liquor.

Conversano

The Best Western Riviera is about a 15 minute shuttle ride from Rome Airport. Check-in was quick (after we found the right line) and it didn't take long to get through security. Our flight was a little late, but we landed in Bari about 11:00am. Our driver was waiting, and it was a 45min ride to Conversano. Our hotel, Corte Altavilla, is in the old walled city. The building itself is from the 11th century, and has been restored using the old brick. No 2 rooms are the same size and shape, and there are unexpected steps and corners. Rooms are a good size, simply but attractively furnished. After a snack, and a walk to explore some of narrow twisting streets, we went to the spa for our "Salus per Aquam" treatment.
It involved a series of water treatments, different temperature showers, Turkish steam-room, hot-tub with jetted beds, a salt scrub, and the final relaxation lounge. The whole spa area is in a cellar area with the old brick walls, dark wood fixtures, and subdued lighting. A wonderful relaxing experience.
That evening we went to the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel, with a view of the roof-tops and the nearby cathedral and castle which are lit up at night. We had the tasting menu, antipasta  plate, pasta course, main & dessert. We could have done with-out the main course! Wine is very good, and reasonable, about 15 to 18 Euro for a good bottle.

Fiumicino

We were sorry to get off the Riviera, really enjoyed our 8 days with her. Dis-embarkation was very pain-less, and our shuttle to Fiumicino was early.

About an hour drive to our hotel, Best Western Riviera in Fiumicino, which is a small sea-side resort close to the airport in Rome. It's a great option for a lay-over as you can walk the sea-side promenade, go to one of the many small sea-food restaurants or even go to a near-by archaeological site. As the day was hot, and Karen & Aaron ended up with a top floor suite with huge patio, we went for a walk to explore the town then came back and relaxed on the deck with wine, cheese, olives, bread, meats and grilled zucchini and tomato.

Livorno 2

Just a quick word on Livorno itself. I was pleasantly surprised at the town, always hearing that it was just a large industrial port. Part of the town is industrial, but there is a lovely old section with old buildings (many must have been rebuilt after being heavily bombed during WW2). There are many canals, and the downtown area has a nice shopping district with many high-end stores, as well as the market that we visited.

Livorno

Originally we had planned to do a tour to Lucca, but at the start of the cruise we heard there was space on one of the Culinary Tours at a discounted price, so we switched. It turned out to be an incredible day! There was a group of 24 of us, plus Chef Kelly & Chef Evans with 3 staff from Oceania, and a local tour guide.
First we went to the Livorno market, being a Saturday it was packed with local people, I think we were the only tourists. There was both an inside and an outside market selling everything under the sun. Beautiful produce including artichokes, asparagus and zucchini with their flowers which were all in season. Then there were the meat shops with both the fresh and cured meats. Lots of fish and shellfish, and of course cheese and bread. The building itself was beautiful, and situated on a canal where the goods used to arrive by barge.
We had a tasting of prosciutto and mortadella, then drove about 1/2 hour out of Livorno to the farm named after the Pitti familiy.
We had a quick tour of the winery, then a tour of the farm by horse-drawn cart. The lane was lined with cypress trees, and the fields had many pheasants and hares in them. At one of the old farm buildings we had our cooking lesson at the outdoor kitchen with a wood stove. Chef Davido taught us how to make focaccia, pizza and cantucci (a type of cookie) all the time trying the various wines from their winery. We then sat at outdoor tables and enjoyed our food with yet more wine.
Truly a day to remember!