Alberobello

We stopped in Alberobello for lunch on our way from Matera to Ostuni and ended up hanging out there for a few hours. It's a beautiful little town full of fairy houses that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

I have yet to find time to learn much about these trulli houses and their origin (I don't seem to have much steam left at the end of the day on this trip), but the houses are small, whitewashed, Smurf-like, and lovely. They are often combined with more modern houses and they also are common in little clusters within one compound.

The trulli houses are thought to have been considered relatively temporary, which is strange because their roofs are made out of rocks. 

Sylvie has been really excited about visiting these fairy houses. We stopped by a trulli museum, and she signed our names in the guest book. 

We happened upon a kick ass Trattoria for lunch in Alberobello, where I had my first delicious Puglian meal, complete with excellent vegetables from the backyard garden. More on that in a later post. 

Asher wandering among the trulli for awhile longer, we loaded up the car again and got on our way towards Ostuni. 

The road trip has been a challenge. There's no doubt that the travel is mostly for me, and the kid comes along. We've had some low points on the trip so far, driven but fatigue and hunger mostly, but she has been a trooper. I'm curious to see how her experiences stick with her over time. She's been frustrated by not being able to understand Italian, and I wonder whether she'll better grasp the need to learn another language after coming here. She's tried lots of pasta and seems to appreciate the wonder of handmade pasta. We've been sleeping together in a bed together most nights, and she moves a lot in her sleep, constantly getting as close to me as possible. We wake up with her in my space, and I've had to crawl over her to the other side of the bed, where there is so much more room. But there have been some nice moments too, and I've tried to document some of them. Here is one.