40th Celebrations in Puglia: Alberobello

For our Easter break, Pete's parents offered to come over to watch the kids so we could get away for a few nights as a joint 40th celebration. As usual, it was hard to pick a place, but we settled on Puglia!

We had a week with Oma and Opa before we took off on a direct flight to Bari. 

Airport drinks. Let the vacation begin! 

Smooth travels, easy rental car pick up and we were off, driving 40 minutes south to our B&B in Monopoli. The charming town beckoned after check-in so we strolled the seaside town, scoping places for the next few nights. 

We stopped into the church on our last day and it was one of the most beautiful of the trip! 

Casual sidewalk art outside our B&B

The weather was beautiful as we set off the next morning for our first adventure. 
There were ancient olive trees everywhere you looked. I have never been to a place where can you smell olives in the air! There were also flowering almond trees dotting the farmlands. 
                                    

Destination- Alberobello! A surreal town of trulli houses. These unique pre-historic buildings were constructed from limestone rocks from the surrounding farmlands. They are made without mortar, which allowed them to be deconstructed quickly when the tax man came to town. 

Most of the trulli in Alberobello have been renovated and are home to tourist shops or hotels. There were some older ones mixed in. We spent the morning exploring, shopping, and popping into Malart brewery at the recommendation of some friends. Some of the roofs had white markings with different meanings. There were also interesting toppers. Pete especially liked the ones with Roman soldiers.