|
Exchange rate 11.2016 /
1 EUR = 1.06 USD
Click photo to enlarge.
Chef Express of the Rome
autostrada
Well, after two flights (14 hours total and a three hour layover) then
driving 8 hours, all on three hours of sleep, I've finally arrived in the
Puglia region. First home base will be a quaint port called Lesina.
Negotiated a 'starving artist special' again (stayed here last year), a 3
star hotel- includes a full breakfast and four course dinner w/ wine and
water, for $50. Love off season deals one can make. TUL (Thank You Lord)
Well, after shooting for a few days in the northern section of Puglia last
year, during the creating of my 63rd world destination series 'Best of
Italy', I was very impressed with it. BUT I'd judged the whole region upon
that work, and while the area was quite large, as in a few hours to drive
around the section, it was far from representative of the whole of Puglia.
So after a few days of working new parts, I thought I'd might of made a
mistake choosing it.
Upon talking to some folks at a tourist information
booth in Manfredonia, about my third day there, I realized my work might
find me specializing on all of the ports along the coast, which were many,
and varied. Of course, I'd heard there were some great places inland too,
like Lecce, so I was going to keep an open mind.
"...I
hoped, and it came to be so, that it translated to 'mussels'!"
Click photo to enlarge.
Santa Maria al Bagno
11.2
On the way down to Gallipoli,
headed south from Porto Cesareo,
I stopped and created a nice piece of art in this little corner of a town.
Strong side light made it come alive.
Afterwards, I made my usual meat,
cheese, tomato sandwich from fresh ingredients I'd picked up in the
morning and watched the light change the scene as the clouds blew by.
Click photo to enlarge.
Shots in Gallipoli
Worked my way down to Gallipoli. It sounded familiar,
as in a movie about folks trying to conquor it back in WW1 or
something like that. Upon doing research back at the hotel that night,
found out yes, it was a major battle over a few months and hundreds of
thousands of English, and Australians, had lost their lives trying to rid
southern Italy of the Turks.
Click photo to enlarge.
Net Repair, fisherman / old boat,
Porto Cesareo.
11.3
Walking around Porto Cesareo I found lots of
possibilities. The weather was perfect with slight cloudiness giving me
soft light.
11.5
After a hard days work of driving around looking at beaches, ports, olive
groves and historic centers, a photographic artist works up an appetite.
BUT, welcome to Italy, where none of the restaurants open UNTIL 8 pm. This
is hard to accept for an American, I can tell you. We eat when we want.
Our restaurants, for the most part, open much earlier.
Parle Italiano? Me either. But thank God most menus have the English
translations. I just ordered the 'tourist menu' at Ristorante Felix.
(Tourist menu is the way to go, ordering separate items of the same thing
would run 50% more)
They had two menus to choose from for this, one TERRA, at $18, and one
MARE, at $20. They both include a pasta dish, (always pasta first) and a
second dish of meat, (either 'sea' or 'land' types) and a small salad and
drink (bottled water or 1/4 liter wine) and coffee or sweet desert, or
liquor often, when finished. The 'Terra' I 'googled', and it meant 'land', which
I'd figured. 'Mare', I knew, means ocean (seafood).
Click photo to enlarge.
'Cozze', come to find out, meant mussels. Cool.
Choice on seafood pasta was 'cozze'. I hoped, and it came to be so,
that it translated 'mussels'! ;/) just what the doctor ordered. Now waiting... nope,
just arrived.
—
Felix Ristorante-Pizzeria
Click photo to enlarge.
Conti Zecca Enoteca display
"I was spoiled, and soon realized I'd use
this as a base for an extra day or two as the place was so nice, the price
so low, the folks so friendly, and the location so perfect for finding
great images, TUL!"
11.6.
The tasting room is first class, as is Mr Zecca's whole operation. Oh, now
I see the 'Cantalupi' wine, the gentleman that cooked me the horse meat
panini at tonight's 'new wine' festival in Leverano mentioned it.
— at
Enoteca CONTI ZECCA.
Three days ago I went to Leverano, where the famous
Conti Zecca winery is located, just before the tasting room closed. I'd
tasted some of their Primitivo in Lecce, at a tourist shop promoting
Salento products (the area of S. Puglia), and was very impressed with it's
smoothness. I wanted to go to the actual winery, and maybe shoot (create)
something there. I was invited to come back during the day, which I did,
yesterday morning. Lo and behold, Mr Zecca himself was outside watching a
truck load some of his wines and I introduced myself and told him what I
did, and showed him samples on my phone. He was impressed and decided to
give me a personal tour. This would be like running into Mr Mondavi and
having him give me a tour. This gentleman runs a giant operation, and his
family has had it for FOUR HUNDRED YEARS NOW! Each pic will have
explanations.
Click photos to enlarge.
Mr Alcibiade Zecca poses during my private tour of his winery.
Click photo to enlarge.
Enoteca, Conti Zecca, and some bottling machinery
I went back after Mr Zecca gave me the tour to
make some art. The bottler machines interested me the most. I've got a
shot of the entire bottling machine, it's about 20 yards long and bottles
5,000 per hour. But as Mr Zecca and his interpreter went with me, I could
not find a shot that really moved me. I'm not used to have folks watch me
work, and besides, they were both standing there and I felt as if I was
wasting their time, so I found something that 'kinda worked', shot it, and
found out it was lunch time and I was stopping them from leaving, no
wonder I sensed the anxiousness of their waiting on me. Wished I could
have worked it at my leisure, I 'could smell a photo waiting to get out'
there. Oh well.
— at
Conti Zecca.
I heard that a 'New Wine Festival'
was being held at the city the winery was located in that weekend, so I
went to it after finishing shooting that day, looking to find more photos,
this time night city scenes. None were found, but did enjoy the
festivities of roving bands, and tons of food and drink vendors...
Click photo to enlarge.
Festa del vino novello, Leverano
11.6 Festa del vino novello (New Wine Festival),
Leverano
After getting in a long line of folks ordering bbq sandwiches, and the
order taking trying to explain in Italian what meat they were serving, and
me still not understanding, had it explained by the chef as I'd waited. It
was horse! HORSE? Well, the USA does not serve it, so I was very
surprised to hear that's what I'd ordered!. But I've eaten the strangest
things around the world, and in comparison, thought it might be tame over
those. My theory, if the locals eat it, like it, and live, then it cant'
be all bad. So it was the first time eating horse meat, as far as I know.
With language barriers and some of off the wall places I've traveled,
guess it could well be it was not the first time And seems to be a big
deal here, with a 100K horses slaughtered for food here per year. Research
found 6 other countries also serve it, but also that protests are held to stop them
from doing so recently in Italy. It went well with the Conti Zecca wine they sold there too.
— at
Festa del vino novello Leverano.
Click photo to enlarge.
Santa Maria di Leuca, overview
"...He was only
down south as his dad had moved down for the warmer weather some years
earlier, but was on his deathbed at the moment. Stefano said he passed the
next day."
11.7
Worked my way down the 'free autostrada' to the
far south, past Gallipoli, and toured the lighthouse and chuch overlooking
the town, named Santa Maria di Leuca. Then worked my way down, past the
port, and downtown where I got my afternoon macchiato and inquired about
rooms. Was told not far away, on the ocean, was one three star hotel open
year round, called Hotel Rizieri. Found it a minute later (was one block
away), and after asking the owner for a 'non-view, low priced, artist
discount room' he went from a $40 quote he first gave to $30 (and that
would be without breakfast, as the 'bar' where they have it was closed for
two weeks). His helper showed me the room, which was fine- TV,
bathroom, writing table, heater, WiFi, etc., and after then asking Rizieri
(his name too) for a further reduction price down to $25, (since there was
no breakfast) he immediately agreed. Cool. I then asked if there was any
discount at his restaurant for hotel residents, and he said yes, a $10
euro special for the 'tourist plate'! Wow, only $10?! And what a deal it
came to be, it even included seafood pasta (cozze again), and seafood
second plate, wine, water and liquor dessert. And it was some of the best
I'd eaten on the trip. I was spoiled, and soon realized I'd use this as a
base for an extra day or two as the place was so nice, the price so low,
the folks so friendly, and the location so perfect for finding great
images, TUL!
Click photo to enlarge.
Cactus and Nasturtium, So. Puglia/ Small cactus patch nearby, on
ocean.
11.7
Saw some Nasturtiums growing over the prickly pear cactus and it looked to
make a nice piece of art.
Was a bit dangerous as the cactus patch was 50 yards by 100 yards, and the
nasturtium was further into the patch. Was worth it.
Click photo to enlarge.
Santa Maria di Leuca
11.9
Had a great day, lots of clouds and soft light, with strong waves, made
working in Santa Maria di Leuca such a pleasure.
11.10
Decided to work my way to Gallipoli for me last day based down south. Had
a wonderful day shooting seascapes, and olive grove again. There was one
point where the road had been closed, forcing us all to go inland for some
distance, thus the olive tree work. Made it just shy of Gallipoli.
That night, back at the ranch (Rizieri's hotel
and restaurant), while eating I saw a lady trying to get a selfie with two
friends. I motioned to the waiter they could use some help, and he ended
up getting me in the background! Funny. I met the older gent, Stefano
Citterio, whom I found teaches languages (plural, he knows 7) at a
university up near Milano, near Bergamo, where he's based. He was only
down south as his dad had moved down for the warmer weather some years
earlier, but was on his deathbed at the moment. Stefano said he passed the
next day. I'd checked out and went to Otranto.
Click photo to enlarge.
I ended up photo-bombing Stefano's group photo.
Stefano Citterio and his friends (kids?).
"...Olive trees,
olive trees! On the way to a place to make photos (Trulli, Alberobello) I
had to stop for two hours and make photos! That's how one rolls
sometimes... "
Click photo to enlarge.
Marina di Marittima
11.11
Short video of a beautiful cove I was photographing today. Marina di
Marittima,
Puglia, Italy. One of three weeks left to work now.
https://vimeo.com/191047836
Click photo to enlarge.
Old City on the sea, Santa Cesarea Terme
11.12
Click photos to enlarge.
Steps, Santa Cesarea Terme / usual mid-afternoon pick me up (well,
usually a macchiato!).
11.12
Click photos to enlarge.
Otranto promenade
Click photo to enlarge.
Super moon, Otranto, without the moon!
11.14
I thought I'd show you what the SUPERMOON looked like last night here in
Otranto. Well, in this shot it's behind the clouds, mostly. Did get her
done with 'the good camera' though. You'll have to wait for the exhibition
for that one.
Click photo to enlarge.
Andrea, Lucio and myself, just before departing after three days in
their wonderful hotel on the ocean.
Andrea and Lucio posed with me before I headed out from
the Profumo di Mare hotel they help run. Three wonderful days using the
hotel, in Otranto, Puglia Italy, as a base. Thanks guys, especially
Andrea, who actually made me eggs and bacon for breakfast. That breakfast
is unheard of in Italy, and after three weeks of croissants I was really
missing it. — with Hotel Ristorante Pizzeria Profumo di Mare.
Click photo to enlarge.
Olive tree, Ostuni
11.14
Olive trees, olive trees! On the way to a place to make photos (Trulli, Alberobello) I had to stop
for two hours and make photos! That's how one rolls sometimes... Olive
tree, Ostuni, Puglia, Italy. (This is just iPhone snap, imagine how nice
the 'big camera' will make it. Shot with three lenses at three varying
angles and backgrounds).
Click photo to enlarge.
The Trulli of Alberobello
Max, my young acquaintance whom told me about his home
region, Puglia, the year before, and was the catalyst really for his whole
series. He showed me around his home area for a day and a half, my last
two days working Puglia.
Link to more info about 'the
Trulli':
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/tourism/puglia/trulli-1.asp
Click photo to enlarge.
Cactus and vase, historical center, Polignano di Mare
Click photo to enlarge.
Selfie, Polignano di Mare historical center.
|
