Trani & Surrounds, Puglia

We moved south to the fishing town of Trani, full of Italian cross dressers, on the south east coast. Another pretty town with a beautiful Marina full of smart leisure cruisers (going nowhere) and working fishing boats, and an impressive cathedral. Fish was definitely the theme here with fish mongers on every street corner and a central fish market every day. Amongst the memorable meals we had there included a sea food platter by the Marina. There was no menu in this restaurant so we ordered by pointing at what other people had. Mags took a fancy to a mountain of shell fish she saw at a nearby table, Unfortunately, when it arrived we realized that all the sea food was raw. Raw langoustines, prawns, sea urchins, mussels, clams and oysters. The langoustines had the consistency of jelly but tasted OK with a little lemon juice. Still, we couldn’t help feeling that they’d be improved no end with a few minutes under the grill.

Another night out saw us venture into the Irish pub. Yes, they really are everywhere. We wanted to see the Irish v the Welsh in the 6 nations decider and reckoned that it would be a dead cert that the game would be shown there. We arrived just before kick off only to find that the place was closed. There were a few people milling about though and the owner popped his head out to see who could possibly want to come in so early on. They had no idea that the game was going on; the place was about as Irish as Vladimir Putin. Still, the owner was really friendly and, when he realized what we wanted, let us in and put the game on.

We used Trani as our base for exploring Puglia and managed a few trips down the coast to:

· Castle del Monte, a hugely impressive Octagonal castle built by Frederick II, and a UNESCO world heritage site.

· Alberobello, another UNESCO site, a town of small conical shaped dwellings made of whitewashed stone with no mortar called Trulli. Legend has it that the residents dismantled their homes when the tax inspector came to avoid paying. It’s a bit full on touristy now with most of these querky buildings converted into shops selling tat, but a very interesting place.

· Lecce, a university city further down south with a beautiful medieval centre.