Azure

Somewhere at 5 am, I woke up, took three flights to the deck to experience a stunning sunrise over the sea.

:Arriving in Bari was swifter than I anticipated, I expected the border guy to search my stuff through, he hardly glanced at me. So I was in the city and was dazzled by the number of churches, monuments, temples, domes, mosaics, castles...after the bustling of the Albanian towns, it was quite strange to see the city being so calm; granted, it was a hot Sunday morning. I could have easily spent three days there, but I recalled I was on a bike-ride, so with the promise to myself to return one of these days (note: have not yet been back), .

So I started the Southern Italian leg of my journey, heading south. At first, I wasn't all too happy with my decision to be there: I was riding on boring, flat roads, with some sour grapes growing on the side of the road, till I met a biker, who led me to a more scenic road.

So I was cruising on the road and suddenly I saw a building that reminded me of Buddhist building called stupa - something I had seen in India.

Eh? Buddhist in Italy...well, it turned out that these are not stupas, but something called "trulli" a stone building with conical roofs. This is the region of Alberobello, a UNESCO World Heritage site, it is absolutely worth a visit.

My boredom was gone and since I rested on the beach the day before, I was full of energy and made good progress that day. I visited the town of Locorotondo, proudly bearing the title of "one of the most beautiful villages of Italy". It was indeed pretty.

Another reward in the evening for my efforts was a mountain peak, above the town of Massafra, with a viewing tower, which happened to be open. Here I was overlooking the Gulf of Toronto. So during this day, I cut through the "heel" of the Italian "boot".

Let's not waste too many words of Massafra, it aint't a pretty city. I reached the coast in the evening, where I found a nice B&B and watched the Italians playing the UK on the beach, at a public viewing (0-0 after 120 minutes). However, I was so tired that I did not get to see the penalty shoot-out, I could no longer stay awake, in the morning, I found out that Italy won by 4:2. Congrats, Azzuri!