Ostuni

On the way back from Lecce to Polignano a Mare, we swung by Ostuni, a town that sits on a hill about 5 miles from the Adriatic coast.  There weren't too many things to photograph in this town, but it did give us a chance to walk off some of that pasta we'd been eating.  We proceeded from our bus's parking place to the main square, and then to the cathedral, a walk that was mostly uphill.  The square includes the column of Saint Oronzo, said to be the first bishop of Lecce.

Here's part of the front of the cathedral:

From an overlook not far from the cathedral, we could see all the way to the Adriatic.

The Apulia/Puglia region has a lot of flat land, unlike the other parts of Italy I've stayed in.  Southeast of Ostuni toward Lecce, there were several ridges that seemed to parallel the coastline, but except for our visit ot Ostuni, we stayed on the coastal plain.

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Lecce, Part 2

After our visit to Lecce's Basilica di Santa Croce (see Part 1), our tour group proceeded to the city's main square.  Within the square was the city's emblem, which is based on its past and present names.  The Romans called this place Lupiae, which is derived from lupa ("she-wolf").  The modern name is derived from that of an oak tree.  Thus, the emblem depicts both the wolf and the oak.

Also within the main square is the excavated half of a Roman amphitheater.  It appears that some modern seating has been added.

Around the perimeter of the amphitheater are these stone structures:

During some free time, I wandered off on my own, and found this courtyard:

I also found the duomo (cathedral).

After a change in direction, I found a fountain that included some organ pipes.

After all this sightseeing, we had a pizza lunch at Il Ristoro dei Templari, and then headed off to our next destination.

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Lecce, Part 1

The southeasternmost part of the Italian mainland is the Salento peninsula, which extends between the southernmost part of the Adriatic Sea and the Gulf of Taranto, thus forming the "heel" of Italy's "boot".  The main city on the Salento is Lecce, known for its baroque architecture, and often called the "Florence of the south".  Lecce was the southeasternmost place visited by our tour group.  Before entering the city, we made a brief stop near a traffic circle, which included an electrical box topped by a statue.

We entered the main part of the city by going through a triumphal arch.

As we proceeded down a narrow street, a few of us wandered into a small courtyard.

Back on the street, we saw two windows that formed a Moorish balcony.  Notice the difference in condition between the two sections of stonework below each respective window.

At a street corner, we saw this Italian terrace:

We proceeded to our first stop in Lecce, the Basilica di Santa Croce (Holy Cross).  The very ornate façade was undergoing some renovation, and thus partially blocked by scaffolding.  I got this shot of a section of the façade, which shows human and animal figures "supporting" the section above them.

Inside the basilica was this side altar, dedicated to the cross itself, and which includes a balcony:

On the ceiling of the basilica was this image:

I don't know if it's a painting or a tapestry, but the surrounding "frame" appears to be a woodcarving with gold inlay or gold paint.  In any event, there's more to come in Part 2.

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Bari

Bari is a seaport in southeastern Italy, and also includes an airport named after Pope John Paul II under his secular name Karol Wojtyła.  Polignano a Mare, where my tour group stayed, is about 20 miles to the southeast.  We walked past Bari's old castle, of which this is one corner bastion:

One another side of the castle is the entrance, which is reached by walking over a bridge.

Looking further down the wall towards another bastion:



Some people in Bari make their own pasta to sell to local restaurants.  Here are some women in a narrow alley making orecchiette ("little ears") pasta, while being observed by a few tourists:

We visited the Basilica of St. Nicholas, which includes his tomb in a lower level chamber, his relics having been brought from Myra in Asia Minor to Bari in 1087.  There was a ceremony taking place when we walked through, so I couldn't take any pictures due to the large crowd in the tomb chamber.  Back in the main part of the church, I took this shot of a statue of St. Nicholas, with some flash reflection from the glass casing:

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Polignano A Mare

I have returned from my vacation in Italy, where I stayed in the Adriatic seaside town of Polignano a Mare.  Located in the southeastern region of Apulia (a.k.a. Puglia), Polignano is definitely "off the beaten path", so to speak.  But even while being relatively obscure, the town is connected to one of the world's best-known songs.  In 1958, a native of Polignano named Domenico Modugno wrote (with his friend Franco Migliacci) and recorded a tune called Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu, which became world-famous under its alternate title Volare.

As we tourists approached our hotel, we were greeted by a statue of Modugno.

The hotel was located on the top of a cliff overlooking a small cove.  The other side likewise was a cliff, with the old section of town built right on top of it.  Here's a view from the hotel:

After walking over to the old section, we got this view of the hotel:

Here's another view of our hotel, from a different direction:

Between the two facing cliffs is this beach:

Here's another section of the cliff on which our hotel sits:

The old section of Polignano includes this narrow pedestrian alley:

Also in the old section is the town hall:

A kilometer or so to the northwest of our hotel is this old abandoned trullo home, with the Adriatic in the background:

The plants at the base of the trullo are prickly pear cactus.  In the Apulia/Puglia region, both the prickly pear and the trulli are ubiquitous.  While most of the trulli around Polignano appear to be uninhabited, we also saw some that were incorporated into, or grouped to form, modern homes.  In fact, there is an entire town built around refurbished trulli, which will be the subject of a future post.

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Labor Day Links

As summer winds down, I look forward to going on vacation starting tomorrow.  Meanwhile, the Democrats kick off their convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Continuing a theme started by Clint Eastwood at the Republican convention, a whole bunch of us vast rightwing conspirators, teabaggers, hobbits, astroturfers, or whatever the left is calling us these days has designated today as Empty Chair Day, posting pictures of an empty chair, symbolizing the president, at the social media of their choice.  With that, on to some stories about the Democrat convention and other news:

From WBTW News, two convention delegates from California were sent home after allegedly getting drunk and causing a "ruckus".

At Frontpagemag, Bruce Thornton gives us a preview of the Democratic National Convention.

Ricochet editor Mollie Hemingway, whose husband is in Charlotte, gives us a ''grim list of speakers".

From the Daily Caller, the convention begins.

From Fox News, the Democrats have made plans to bus in college students and black church members to fill Bank of American Stadium for the president's speech on the last night of the convention.

Also from Fox News, gas prices for Labor Day have hit record highs this year.

From BreitbartTV, an ad that shows President Obama recycling talking points from four years ago.

From SFGate, Nigerian authorities have arrested a man for attempting to smuggle cocaine - stuffed inside a roasted chicken.

From The Sun, the actor and former wrestler known as The Rock chases away hoodlums who were trying to break into a van.

And from Weird Asia News, a Chinese fisherman catches a giant yellow croaker, and sells it for the equivalent of about $472,000.

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Flight 93 Memorial

During my recent roadtrip to some western parts of Maryland, I took a swing up into Pennsylvania and visited the memorial to Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville on 9/11/2001, after some of the passengers and crew tried to wrest control of the airplane from the highjackers.  This was my third visit to the memorial, the others having been in 2006 and 2008. 

The memorial and its environs have changed since 2008.  During my previous visits, there was only a temporary memorial, reached by some back roads extending between Shanksville and Lambertville to the north.  Now, there is a new road extending southward from US 30, leading to a paved parking lot, some restrooms, and a walkway to the memorial itself.

I remember quite a bit of controversy about some plans for the memorial's design, which was alleged to contain quite a bit of Islamic symbolism, including a large circular wall with a gap, which from the center of the circle allegedly would point to Mecca.  The actual memorial, at least for now, does not include the circular design, but some straight wall sections.  However, according to the link above, the memorial is not yet complete, and thus could still in the future incorporate design features that some find objectionable.

Here is the wall and a pretty good crowd of visitors.

The wall is made of panels, bearing the names of passengers and crew.

Along the walkway between the parking lot and the memorial are some kiosks and a seating area.

Extending along the walkway is this wall, set at what appears to be a 45 degree angle, and including some niches.  Flags, flowers and other offerings have been placed in these niches, continuing a tradition that began with the temporary memorial.

As an added note, my 2008 visit was reported in a post on AndRightlySo, the blog that took me in, so to speak, a few months before.  While the blog is now longer on the web, two of my blogmates created a backup site at Wordpress, which is still around and contains some of our posts from that year.  At it turns out, this includes the post about my 2008 visit.

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