Saturday
Dear Elsie
Today we arrived in Bari. This was 6.10am. First look at Bari…
Our clocks turned back an hour so we are back on South Africa time. We were up early as our excursion left at 7.30am.
Our first stop was Polignano Al Mare. This is a very plain new town with a beautiful seafront old town. It has lots of old limestone buildings and Venetian architecture with alleys and picturesque courtyards & stunning views.
We walked around a bit before sitting down for a cappuccino in this square. 
From there it was on to what will be one of the most memorable visits. We drove through the province of Pouille. The region is famous for olive oil. Apparently there are 60 million olive trees – it’s said the area produces the second highest amount of olive oil after Spain. There are olive trees as far as the eye can see.
Also scattered across the landscape are these conical buildings used for livestock mainly. These ones are attached to a homestead but they are regularly seen on their own in the middle of orchards and fields.
The province is also known for almond orchards and vineyards. We soon arrived at the caves of Castellana.
We were lead down a lot of stairs to the caves which are 28m below sea level.
I got down to the bottom first and took a photo of Mike and Julian on the stairs above.
The biggest cave is 60m high & has a massive hole opening to the sky. The caves were excavated in 1938. Taking pictures from inside just don’t do them justice. The stalagmites and stalactites were incredible. There were so many of them of different sizes and shapes appearing like owls and dogs, of ogres and jellyfish. None were hand crafted. They all just formed with the passing of time.
Looking up into the hole.
We walked a 1km circuit coming out below the hole at a different angle..
When we got out, we found the hole from above.
I put my cell phone over the barrier and took a pic. You can just see part of the stairs below.
They were amazing. All in all a good visit. We got back to the ship at 1pm and had a restful afternoon. Tomorrow we arrive in Trieste.
And now we are about to go to dinner.
Psalm 104:24
How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all;
It’s not about now- we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip
Gran xx