truly trulli (sorry!)

we left tropea about 9.30 and 'mr charming' as i now must refer to him waved us off! the drive across the underside of italy's instep is mostly flat and pretty boring driving. we were both tired after two nights of jollity and grappas so wanted to get there sooner rather than later. finally we turned away from the coast and headed up towards a town called noci. then good old leclerc (french tom-tom) struck! off we went onto the goat tracks he and tom-tom love so much. the scenery was lovely as we climbed up into a landscape of large fields of reddish soil edged with pristine dry stone walls. but the road surface was as dire as in the sicilian back roads so everything in the camper shook and rattled and the tins fell out of the lower cupboard as before! we did see some trulli houses on the way but no traffic at all and then only a couple of cars with surprised drivers as we lurched into view! finally reaching alberello we quickly found the campsite where a charming girl gave me a map, told me the price and regretted they had no internet...yet! we drove around the small site and realised it was going to be pretty impractical as there were slopes everywhere and lots of tree trunks to negotiate. i apologised and offered the map back but she smiled and said i could keep it....guilt!! back in town we had noticed a car park with campers on it and electrical posts. we turned in and the chap in the hut confirmed the price on the notice board as 18 euros for 24 hours parking which included electrical hookup and waste service.

no toilets or showers available but we have our own toilet and can strip wash in our tiny bathroom. and he had internet access, 1 euro for 24 hours, result! so we parked up amongst a cluster of european campers; dutch, french, german, czechoslovakian, italian and austrian at the final count before bedtime! :) lou rested his eyelids and i went off with my map plus one the nice young man in the hut had given me to find the trulli. the car park was just one block away the main area of them so i had a lovely wander in the quieter part taking photos before a text from lou asking where i was meant his zzz was finished.

so both of us meandered about the little lanes taking photos and buying a few souvenirs from the many little shops and checking out menus for later. a hike across town to find the only bank machine meant we passed a bar with a sunny terrace so a stop for some local wine which, sadly, we couldn't find in the shops as it was all 'finished'. shades of our local glanes rose and white wine which soon finishes each summer due to its popularity. gazing across to the other side of the main piazza which ran between two small hills covered in trulli i was very glad we had made the journey across italy to see these curious little houses of puglia.

i'm not sure that lou was this morning when i tried to direct him to matera and its troglodyte sassi caves and churches. we made it to the town at last...fisticuffs between the map and leclerc...only to find it was impossible to park anywhere there being only on-road parking. bit difficult for the camper on a busy tuesday morning in the biggest town around! so we gave the sassi a miss and drove on towards potenza and naples. the road was pretty straight and the scenery stunning as the mountains rose on both sides of us. leclerc took us north of naples but did drop us back done onto the naples version of a perepherique and we found the campsite easily. the entrance is an imposing affair of two stone arches that lou wasn't convinced was either high enough or wide enough to pass through. a waiter in a bar opposite waved him on, clearly having witnessed this a lot! :)

the chap in the first office waved us very enthusiastically down into the camp site where we registered and he gave me several small books on the area. he is clearly very proud of the fact that this site is in the crater of an active volcano! well, the book says it isn't but it does give off hot mud and fumes. we shall be exploring that later no doubt. we are on about the last possible patch of grass as there are several campers and caravans dotted about randomly and a collection of tents behind us. there is a sauna nearby according to our host and a bar! now that's my kind of talk! chin!