Puglia 2021
G and I opted to make a trip to Puglia after "adopting an olive oil tree" a year prior from the Masseria Il Frantoio. For background, G is an Italian citizen through his mother who recently adopted a tree and suggested it to us. The Masseria Il Frantoio, located in Puglia, has thousands of ancient olive oil trees on their property and in an effort to conserve them, gives the opportunity for them to be adopted. With the adoption of the tree, you get to select your tree, name it, and receive the olive oil from it (they mail it to you). It's worth noting that the olive oil isn't just any olive oil, but (quite literally) the world's best olive oil and the amount that you receive when you "adopt the tree" could probably fill about 24 bottles of wine. The olive oil is really good and we not only use it ourselves but like to repackage it with personalized labels and give it as gifts.
(Their olive oil was rated #1 in the world in 2021)
In addition to their fabulous olive oil and adoption program, the Masseria also has a fantastic on-site restaurant and is a beautiful hotel where you can stay so given our "adopted tree" that we'd never met being here, we figured it was as good of an excuse as any to build a vacation out of it.
The train from Rome was quite easy and soon we were in beautiful Ostuni, the southern boot of Italy and en route to the Masseria.
arriving at the train station
the pool area at the Masseria
It wasn't long before G embraced the restful atmosphere and took a little snooze
We stayed in for dinner that night and attended an outdoor dinner event where we had many kinds of "panzerotto" (think a Puglia version of an empanada) before retiring to our adorable room. The grounds were filled with lots of flowers and plants, along with nice lighting in the evening. We were thrilled with the decision to stay there.
Photos of the grounds at night
and in the morning
For this portion of our trip, we opted to rent a car (G, with his Italian citizenship and being a better driver, was the natural choice to get the international driver's license).
our ride for the rest of the trip
our guide for the day
Our first stop was Otranto where the ocean looked like it belonged in the Caribbean. We stopped at a restaurant on the water to have some yummy seafood. Towards the end of our lunch it started sprinkling so we hopped back in the car to find some sunshine.
Lunch in Otranto
We found a reprieve from the rain and a beautiful beach in Salento at Spiaggia di Perscoluse!
fun in the sun!
Eventually the rain found us here too but not until after we'd had the chance to frolic quite a bit in the clear blue ocean and on the white sand beach.
G enjoying his time
G refusing to acknowledge the ominous clouds moving toward us
After the rain eventually moved in, we made one more stop in Gallipoli for a road snack and gas before heading back to the Masseria. (side note, the gas experience was hilarious as neither G nor I could figure out how to do the gas and almost put diesel into our rental car. While confused, a line of angry Italians formed behind us. How many Italians does it take to help 2 idiot Americans put gas in a car? 3, 3 Italians is what it took...)
The next day started a little stressful as G and I had to take our travel covid tests to make sure we could return to the US and our jobs. We purchased the test through Delta and prescheduled our appointment as the test included have someone watch you do it (to ensure you are sticking it up your own nose) and wait for the results. The entire test takes 15 minutes as you stick the thing up your nose then drip it onto what looks like a pregnancy test, all while being watched. As the clock ticks down, you just pray you'll be negative and allowed to leave the country - thankfully both of us passed.
After passing our COVID tests, we celebrated by taking a trip to Alberobellow, a UNESCO world heritage site, to see the famous trulli homes. While many have been converted into vacation stays or hotels, some are still lived in as homes.
The entire city is a UNESCO site!
We had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed several hours of sightseeing before heading home to get ready for dinner. As I mentioned earlier, the Masseria has a wonderful restaurant with fresh food from the farm served in a multi-course wine paired dinner. Because G and I are gluttons, we opted for the 6-course dinner.
The dinner was amazing. (Highly recommend going even if you don't stay at the Masseria as the restaurant is open to the public).
The next day we woke and went in search of our tree. After asking the manager for a map, we realized we were in for a bit of a walk.
The map of the trees and our tree #236
our tree
did a bit of a photoshoot of course
a photo to show just how many trees there are
After finding our tree, we also used our map to look for G's mother's tree (elephante) before heading into Ostuni. The city of Ostuni is BEAUTIFUL (if we went back to Puglia, we may opt to stay there having now experienced staying at a Masseria) and reminded me a lot of Greece (a beautiful white walled city on the ocean). I also have never seen such low real estate prices for ocean-view properties.
Wandering around Ostuni
The view from the old city of Ostuni
370,000 euros for a 3-bedroom, 3-bath with a pool
60,000 euros for a two-bedroom, two-bath
That evening we caught our flight home after a whirlwind week adventure in Italy! With G's Italian citizenship, it certainly won't be our last trip there! Caio until next time!
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