After four weeks of guests and busy work schedules, Nicole and Chris were ready for their much anticipated honeymoon.
It was a twelve hour flight from Tokyo to Frankfurt and a 6 hour layover, before we made it to Rome. Woo-hoo!! We took a frightening 100 MPH cab ride from the airport to our hotel and shortly after we arrived, we were fast asleep.
The next day started at 6am; we took the train from Termini back to the airport for our short flight to Bari, Puglia. Unfortunately, we missed our flight thanks to the hard-working and efficient staff at Alitalia (we need to remember that outside of Japan most things do not run as smoothly and efficiently).
We made it to Bari and to the Tenuto Moreno Hotel where we met up with the rest of our Ciclismo group. After unpacking, we met everyone outside for introductions, bike adjustments and a quick 18 mile ride. Fortunately, we signed up for the Ciclismo gelato tour which meant that every day we stopped during our ride to sample a local gelateria, score!!
After our first gelato sampling at Gelato Fantasia, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We headed into Mesagne for dinner and on our way to the restaurant, we stumbled upon a festival in town. Dinner was amazing, Nicole says it was the best Italian meal she has ever had (and, she's had a few).
The next day, we did a loop from our hotel to San Vito Dei Normanni. The views were amazing and we 
made a quick stop at the Adriatic for snacks. We stopped in San Vito for lunch at a panini shop and again filled up on gelato, yum. After the ride, we went to the pool at our hotel for a nice, long dip before dinner. We had a lesson at the hotel on how to make semifreddo (which we of course took a picture of and later enjoyed for dessert) and for dinner, we ate in the hotel's wine cellar.
The third day took us from Mesagne to Savelletri. We stopped in Ostuni, The White City, for lunch. Before lunch, we had time to walk through Ostuni and explored the narrow, white washed streets which lead up to Le Cattedrale (the city's cathedral). After our walk, we met our group back at Bar Trieste for lunch and some more gelato :)
After lunch, we headed out on the road and rode along the beautiful, blue waters of the Adriatic. It was a hot day, which made for a tough ride but we made it to our second hotel, the Masseria Torre Maizza. The Masseria was a fortified farm and was built in the XVI Century. The grounds of the Masseria and the rooms were beautiful. We quickly headed to the pool to cool off from the heat. That night we enjoyed dinner at the hotel and were treated to a performance by local musicians.
On our fourth day we headed from Savelletri to Alberobello.
We stopped on the way to enjoy the Grotto di Catellana.
The Castellana caves are the most spectacular geological complex of caves in the whole of Italy. The Grotto was full of interesting limestone structures that looked like the surface of a distant planet. After our tour, we had lunch and hit the road again. We made our way to Alberobello.
Alberobello is famous for its trulli, or stone dwellings with conical roofs.
For dessert, we walked to Guiseppe's cherry trees and picked the fruit right off the trees. It was an incredible experience and our
Trulli are built without any cement or mortar and the roofs are constructed in two layers: an inner layer of limestone boulders capped by keystone and an outer layer of limestone slabs which ensure a watertight structure. There are many theories behind the origin of the design. We were told that conical structures were easy to dismantle
so many families would dismantle their trulli when the tax inspectors came around. The trulli were then quickly rebuilt after the inspector left. The Trulli of Alberobello were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996.
After arriving to Alberobello, we got situated into our last hotel and made our way downstairs for an Italian lesson given by our amazing guides, Cristiano and Paolo. While we learned Italian we enjoyed both wine AND gelato; what a vacation! After our lesson, a few of us made our way into town to see the famous trulli. We found a restaurant that was situated inside a trulli and were able to really enjoy the unique setting.
Day 5 was our last ride with our group and we completed a loop to Locorotondo. We made a stop for some wine tasting and a tour at the Cantina Sociale Locorotondo. After sampling some wine and snacking on stuzzichini and fresh tomatoes we headed for lunch at a local farm.
We made our way to Masseria Terranova where we were treated to a wonderful stay. Guiseppe and his family made all of the food on their farm. They prepared fresh cheese, wine, freshly baked breads, homemade pasta and a fava bean mash that was delicious.
For dessert, we walked to Guiseppe's cherry trees and picked the fruit right off the trees. It was an incredible experience and our
hosts were so gracious to open their doors to us. We were able to see some of their cows, rabbits and chicken. The pigs were out roaming around so we were not able to see them. We did see where they lived; they have their very own trulli to call their home.
After our lunch we headed back to our hotel and said goodbye to our bikes. All in all we rode around 150 miles. We all went to dinner that night and had a great time. Chris and I met a wonderful group of people (expecially our guides who we are pictured with), saw beautiful landscapes and marveled at the vast array of olive trees that lined the many roads we traveled. We hope to see you again Puglia, very soon.
