Another beautiful day awaited us. Today, we decided to go to the Grotte di Castellana. The first cave is about six stories tall, with an opening at the top that makes the formations glow. There are stalactites (from the roof) and stalagmites (growing from the floor), created by dripping water over thousands of years. We were told that the stalactites grow about an inch every 100 years.
The colors were amazing and formations looked like statues, welcoming visitors from their high perch. The history of the Caves of Castellana begins in the upper Cretaceous (100 – 90 million years ago), when Puglia was still below sea level of the ancient Mediterranean, inhabited by numerous colonies of mollusks and marine plants. For millions of years, these life forms had succeeded each other, generations after generations, and their empty shells and carcasses accumulating on the seabed, had formed a gigantic deposit of mud and sand which, with its slow but continuous growth, had gradually compressed to form a layer of limestone with a thickness of several kilometers. This is a vast system of caverns that extends for about 3 kilometers at an average depth of 70 meters. We went through cavern after cavern, noting the changes in colors, shapes, and formations.
From the caverns we went to Polignano a Mare, a charming town that is known for its crystal clear water. There are more caves just above the water that you can visit via boats. We decided instead to enjoy the town and have a lunch famous for its puccia. These buns are soft and are filled with a variety of fillings, including seafood (usually octopus). We shared one with polpette (a delicious meatball) a ragu sauce, and burrata cheese. It was a very special, typical of this town.
The day was not over. We then moved on to Monopoli, another ancient town that continued to charm us. They were getting ready for a concert as part of the Prospero Fest at the port. We didn’t stay, but it looked like a wonderful concert later in the day.
Time to return to Alberobello for dinner. A nearby restaurant, Terra Mossa, made a yummy four cheese pizza, which Jim enjoyed with a Peroni beer and me with an Limoncello Spritz. It was the perfect cap to the busy day.
Tomorrow, we explore more nearby towns. The winding roads and myriad of roundabouts make navigating a challenge, but my co-pilot does a great job! Until tomorrow…