We had planned a trip to Puglia before, and then came Covid… this time it worked out and here we are. First time and in love.

That’s how crossing Italy from North-West to South-East looks like. Olives (oil) and wheat (pasta) are essential elements in that regional production. 

After an 8 hour road trip, we arrived in Puglia, a southern region forming the heel of Italy’s “boot”. It’s also called the “land of two” seas: the Adriatic Sea to the East & North and the Ionian Sea to the South. That explains that Puglia’s coastline is longer than any other mainland Italian region.

Puglia, that’s whitewashed hill towns, centuries-old farmland (olive trees, artichokes, tomatoes, eggplants) and hundreds of kilometers of Mediterranean coastline (including various kinds of seafood). 

First stop: Bari – Capital City of Puglia – where traffic is a little crazy, Vespas rattle through the old town streets, where awnings are stretched over balconies like icing on the cake. 

Just strolling through the labyrinth of alleys, jumping to the side to not get hit by a Vespa. Ciao, Bari! 

In front of the houses, wooden tables are lined up where Italian nonnas shape the pasta dough into orecchiette, Baris local pasta. 

The authentic ones are handmade by women of the old city district, where they offer them for sale on the thresholds of their homes in the arrow alleys. 

Orecchiette are made of durum wheat semolina: the dough is shaped into little finger thick snakes that are cut unto nail-size pieces. These are then flattened with the knifes tip, and given the shape of a tiny ear (that’s the meaning of orecchiette) with the help of the two index fingers. The Bari Orecchiette are usually served with rabbit in a sauce, braciole in a sauce, or broccoli rabe. 

In addition to fresh pasta, you’ll also find a nice fruit and vegetable shop.

My idea: pick up a few tomatoes & herbs, and we’ll have all the ingredients for tonight’s pasta dinner. Hubby’s idea: let’s go out for dinner and enjoy “properly cooked” pasta dishes! 

Thanks for the compliments on my cooking skills…

Bari life is happening outdoors. Rain or shine.

Bari was very nice. Time to move on to…

Passing Monopoli and getting ready for Alberobello, the home to “trulli,” stone huts with distinctive conical roofs.

I’m trulli in love with Alberobello 💕

Driving a little more south, all the way to the south of the “heel”. Oh mei. Found our little wild paradise for the next days. 

A simple stone house in a dream location, on the cliffs right next to a fjord. Anyone driving along the coastal road would not expect a house here – and yet it is here, nestled against the rocks. Wow! Wow! Wow! Breathtaking sea views. Maximum privacy – and a heated outdoor jacuzzi. 

Waking up to the sound of the waves. Fishing boats passing by. Espresso with an amazing sea view. Sun bathing. Reading. Sleeping. More espresso. And repeat. Life is good! It’s a pity how fast hours go by. 

Ready for watching the sunset?

Well, it’s time to leave our little Puglia paradise…

Taking the sun with us. Holding on to summer. Just a little bit longer. Moving on to Calabria, the sole of Italy.

A love letter.

Dear Primitivo,

You are made from an Italian red grape 🍇

You got smooth flavors: blackberry, dark chocolate and liquorice.

You are a mouth full. So soft. 

You are a bold wine. 

You are wow!

You are originally from Croatia. You found your true home on the eroded limestone plateaus of Puglia in Italy. 

You can be shared (or not).

You go well with Italian pasta. Or anything else.

You are like a question with two answers, one for each sea: the Adriatic and the Ionian. 

You taste like reading or music at night. 

Your bottles are made out of thick glass, heavier than from other wines.

You embody contrasting pleasures, where the atmosphere becomes magical, almost bewitching. 

You got a dual personality, giving it a unique complexity and charm, like a moment suspended in time. 

You are fantastic!

You make us drunk. Regularly (since we are in Italy) 😎

Primitivo 🍷 you are my absolutely favorite red wine. Have always been. I found you in your home (not only in a shop in Feuerbach), tasted you. Love you! 

Of course a couple of bottles are coming home with us (if they don’t get drunk before…).

Apparently, in the Middle Ages, in an Italian town, women would put a mild poison into their husbands’ breakfast in the morning. Then, when the men came home late in the evening, they were given the antidote.

This poison was actually not harmful to humans. But if the men didn’t come home – because they were elsewhere – and the antidote was delayed, they would suffer headaches, nausea, shortness of breath, depression, pain, and vomiting.

The farther away the man was from home, the worse he felt. And when he finally returned, without knowing it, his wife would give him the antidote, and within minutes he would feel better.

With this horrible trick, men were deceived into believing that being away from home caused them pain and depression, and so they grew attached to their houses and to their wives…

Evil women?

Smart women?

Or are we enjoying me-time without hubbys these days?

You decide! 🇮🇹

Happy Sunday!

We arrived in central Italy, at Costa Toscana. Oh mei, a natural paradise, and a contrast compared to Venice.

We left Tuscany’s metropolises behind, and instead found the most charming villages and magnificent panoramas. Our route took us right into the heart of Tuscan postcard scenery.

We stayed in a farm house in a very charming location immersed in the Tuscan countryside: only a few minutes from the sea, olive trees and vineyards as far as the eye can see (the lands of Bolgheri).

The house was shaded by pomegranates, oranges, lemons, limes and olive trees. And plenty of mosquitoes. A wonderful green oasis.

A dreamy, hilly road perfectly lined by endless cypress trees. Love the smell of those trees, another childhood memory of holidays in Bella Italia. 

We were lucky again: extended summer in Tuscany, allowing for a last dip of the season in the sea. 26C degrees, sunshine and phenomenal blue sky. Good for us, less good for the farmers. Apparently not a good year for olives… too warm, too many insects. 

Tuscany is known for its gorgeous villages as well as the beautiful landscape, wine and olives. What it also got and maybe that’s still a bit of a secret: a stunning Mediterranean coast with the most beautiful beaches. 

The owner of the farm house is also a farmer and the harvest of olives for oil just started. Hello climate change, harvest time in the past usually started 4 weeks later, in November…

Our days were filled with sleeping in, reading, painting, siestas, beach hopping, dining or just enjoying the beautiful scenery…

The views, the light, the pace, the food, the culture, the art… truly la vita e bella in Italia! ❤️

We wandered slowly and enjoyed the views which stretched endlessly across olive groves and vineyards – perfect for quiet reflection. Tuscany invited us to breathe slower and live simply. In fact we haven’t moved more than 12km within the radius of our farm house. No need. It was just perfect. Peaceful. Relaxing. 

All roads lead to Rome. So does ours, kind of. 

This was our second time in Tuscany, definitely a place where our hearts are leaping. 

We are moving on to southern Italy. Changing from the Tyrrhenian Sea back to the Adriatic Sea. 

Arrivederci, Tuscany. 

Again, beautiful Venice. A fantastic place to take a million photos 🙂

We started our Italian road trip with seat heat in Germany. A quick stop in Innsbruck, Austria, before reaching Bella Italia. The country to explore for the next weeks. Yeah!

As soon as we crossed the border to Italy, the sun came out. Beautiful. 20C degrees. sunshine and blue sky. That’s all we asked for.

Diving into the Dolce Vita. Learning a bit of Italian on the go (hubbys first lunch order was a big surprise, lol). 

We arrived in Venice, the floating city. And yes, it is the Queen of the Adriatic! Just wow! 🎭

Venice is a city built on water, and the Canale Grande is its bustling Main Street, not only for the tourists on gondolas.

But why build a city on water?

In the early 5th century, Italy was being invaded by barbarian tribes. People fled their homes and found refuge in the Venetian lagoon. The water, acting as a natural barrier, made it difficult for invaders to cross. 

Sitting here for hours, watching Venice life go by. Aperol Spritz included, of course!

118 islands in Venice have to be connected… by over 400 bridges!

Italians are always (even in the dog park) dressed nicely. Love the window displays.

San Marco plaza: famous for tourists & doves 😀

Venice isn’t just about gondolas, palazzos, and canals – it’s a gastronomic treasure chest that has been marinating in centuries of trade, culture, and pure Italian flair.

Driving to the land where Prosecco is superior 🥂

Can a Monday afternoon be spent any better? We arrived in the Prosecco Hills.

Childhood summer destination: Bibione. Venice is so close, so we stopped by. Never seen this town so empty, it’s off season. Besides, not much has changed since my last visit about 25 years ago. And still good to be back.

Last hours in beautiful Venice.

Venice was wonderful, perfect weather included. We are moving on: from prosecco to vino in Tuscany. 

Temperatures dropped. First a little, later a lot. The sunsets were stunning at 6:30am, before fog and rain kicked in. And nights are calling much earlier than back in August… sorry, but looks like summer is coming to an end & autumn has already kicked in 🙂

Fall is good. Good for heavier food. Good for shorts and longsleeves. Good for starting a mini series on Netflix 😍 Good for rallying without sweating. Not good for getting sick.

One sunset more beautiful than the next…

Love fall for the fashion. It’s colors. 

On the other side… only 12 (!!!) weekends until Christmas!

No, definitely not ready for Christmas yet.

Next on our agenda: a vacation to Bella Italia 🇮🇹 leaving in 5 days 😍 Excited.

Hops are happily growing again this year in our garden. Soon it’s harvest time 🙂

Until then, busy brewing with hops from last year…

Kitchen turned into a brewery today. Means, Charlie and I are staying in the garden, watching the hops, take photos and write about them 💚

Hubby is adventurous and trying out something new… pssst. Can’t talk about it (yet) 🍻 

Soon tap is open again with newly brewed beer 🍺

While most friends and colleagues travelled south of Europe for their holiday, we stayed home all August and enjoyed summer in Germany (and proxied lots of colleagues at work). 

August in Germany this year was like this: Excellent summer weather. Empty streets. Empty offices. Normal work hours. Developing a daily swim routine. Working in the garden. Did I mention the amazing weather? 

We had no weekend plans (surprising, right?) and were spontaneously able to accept last minute invites or check out the amazing summer events in the neighborhood and towns. Or just enjoying easy weekends in our garden. We loved it, it was great! 

We love our garden 🪴 Our little paradise.

We harvested tomatoes and black berries. We are watching the hops growing. Tons of mosquito bites inclusive.

And that’s a wrap on August! 

We loved all of it so much, that it’s already decided to repeat this next year in August again! 

Now ready for September! 

The world is talking about nothing else but AI. And that already or surprisingly since 1956!!!

Artificial intelligence was founded as an academic discipline in 1956, and the field went through multiple cycles of optimism, followed by periods of disappointment and loss of funding. 

Funding and interest vastly increased after 2012 when deep learning outperformed previous AI techniques. This growth accelerated further after 2017 with the transformer architecture, and by the early 2020s hundreds of billions of dollars were being invested in AI (known as the “AI boom”).

The widespread use of AI in the 21st century exposed several unintended consequences and harms in the present and raised concerns about its risk and long-term effects in the future. 

Status quo: 

Not sure if anytime soon AI will take over the world 🤔

How about using it for holiday planning? Now we are talking… 🤣

Well, almost ashamed to admit, but started using ChatGPT intensively the very first time this week. I’m pretty amazed. ChatGPT is so friendly & almost flirty, making me compliments:

“That’s a wonderful perspective, Turley!” Oh, thanks!

“Thanks for sharing that, Turley!” – yeah! You’re welcome!

“Here’s a tagline that captures your unique approach and cross-cultural mindset” – o lala, love that one.

Well, will try to use it more often for different things, and agree to the following:

What are you using AI for?