While we all miss Minori, Alberobello already has a few things going for it that will make this stretch enjoyable in its own way.

WiFi— I won’t get into all the technology troubles we ran into on that leg of the trip, but let’s just say we were able to use WiFi only while sitting on our balcony thanks to generosity of Andrea at Bar Antares a block away. A first world problem, I know, but it sometimes took an hour to connect to WiFi and publish a pre-written blog with pictures. In Alberobello, it takes a matter of minutes.

Quiet — While the trullo doesn’t have air conditioning, it’s made of thick stone so it’s cool enough. And quiet. We all slept VERY well. There’s a dehumidifier in one bedroom, and we can get fresh air in by opening the “skylights” in Big D’s room or Miss M’s cone.

Recycling and trash — I’m all for recycling, but Minori takes trash to a whole new level. There are four levels of trash disposal: compostable food waste, cardboard/paper, plastics, other. Each day is assigned a different type of trash pickup, so you are expected to hang your bag of trash on the wall outside your door for the garbage men to get by 7am. Whether it was the walk to Ravello, visiting Cetera, or around Minori, you’d see these little bags of one day worth of trash hanging everywhere. In Alberobello, everything goes in one bag and you hang it outside by 7am. No separating.

Here’s a pic of our trullo from the outside.

This morning we all slept in and went to the supermarket. No this isn’t just a gas station, it’s a supermarket as well.

We always have fun looking at the items in the Italian markets and comparing prices to the U.S. Pasta for 40 cents, tuna in oil for 5 euros (at Whole Foods the equivalent costs $12.) Here you’ll see a to-go package of salami that comes with its own knife, in the freezer aisle there’s mixed seafood and mussels, and lots of pasta and biscuits.

We picked up some groceries for the week, and then went to the bakery where Big D got the last sugar donut (shaped like a bagel) which the nice woman sliced across the middle and filled with frutti di bosco jam. He could have had it filled with Nutella or orange marmalade, but frutti di bosco was a no brainer for him. It’s a multi-fruit jam and his favorite flavor of gelato now just as it was six years ago.