Gravina in Puglia 3

I  made it to Gravina in little over an hour, headed straight to the local bar, sat outside and had a massive Gelato. con gusto di stracciatella and fichi caramellato.. Yummy. I headed to the room later, took a shower and just fell asleep. In the evening I explored the Gravina historic center and took photographs. I cannot post those here but if you are friends with me on facebook you are welcome to take a look at it. The historic centers in Italy is the heart in every sense of every town or village. They date back centuries and till today provide the pulse to the life. They are different region to region and the ones in Puglia are more rugged and fortified. Long narrow alleys lined with shops and businesses. Surely a piazza right in the center where almost the entire town gathers in the evening to socialize. Restaurants, cafe's and bars cater to them. In this case in Gravina not only is it beautiful but the old part of it also contains ancient caves or grottes and tunnels that were used for living or as frantoios where they made wine. They were used till a few years ago. 

Gravina in Puglia

Well the next day I decided to explore a few more places. That wine and limoncello got me drunk again and I could not wake up early yet again and faced another tough ride. This time I decided to ride to my destination without stopping too much. I took a different route for exploration sake, almost flat to compared to the previous ride and the road was so straight I had a kms of visibility in front of me.
The town I was headed to was called Poggiorsini. The town was set in the middle of these wheat vastlands and just a km in length! Took me an hour to get there at almost 25km/hr. I stopped just once to take this shot.

When I reached Poggiosini I found the piazza empty. Seemed like some of the far west movies were shot right here! There was no one and I was expecting a gun fight to breakout. Just one of those scenarios. I took a break to take more photographs. Later I went to a local bar to have a drink to refresh. The lady who worked there was keeping a curious eye on me as I struggled to find a place to leave the bike. She then finally remarked saying I should not be worrying, there was no one and very safe. I looked around and thought where the hell can one actually run with my bike in this sort of place!! I was later told that the piazza was full of people shoulder to shoulder in the evening when everyone gets back to town after the work in the fields. I lingered around for a while and just rode back home in a TT mode. The roads were that good 

I had a great trip and I love these isolated region of Italy. People crowd themselves in Tuscany and other places which are so over rated. I love the back roads. You actually get to step back in time in a place like Italy in the heart of Europe and get to see how life existed in these parts centuries ago. Some more photographs and I close this post here.

Poggiorsini

Thanks for looking!