Lori and Troy do Europe 2025

Today is 65 and mostly sunny. We had a light breakfast this morning and have an Olive oil tasting scheduled at 11:30am. The olive farm is about 15 min from our hotel.

We entered in the location on Apple Maps and headed out. It was mostly back street driving until we came upon a left turn that looked more like a path. Well, we’re going to a farm so we continued. There was only enough room on this path for 1 car with 3 ft stone walls on both sides. About 2 min down the path we encountered a van coming right at us. He tried to pull to the side for us and I heard him scrape against the wall. There was no way that I was going to fit between him and the wall. Lori immediately started blaming my phone and Apple Maps. I saw an entrance to a field a little ways back so I started backing up. This car has no backup camera which it turns out is an option that I have become quite reliant on. Lori’s comment was to back up the old fashioned way. I guess I have no choice and started the painful head checks. I made it into the field entrance and let the van past. Lori suggested that we exit the path and use her phone instead.

I exited and I waited for her to plot a route. We widened out the map and realized that this was the only way to get to our location. Then we noticed a sign at the entrance to the path stating the farm was actually down this path. I started on the path again. I guess they just leave it to the opposing cars to figure it out?

We finally made it to the farm where there were 2 closed gates. Now what? I’m starting to get visions of the Italian version of “Deliverance”. We pulled up to the first gate and there were no buttons or anything. We tried the second gate and found a doorbell which alerted them to open the gate. Why are the gates at the end of a one way path? At this point I feel myself going on high alert! We drove past the gate to find a pretty nice oasis. There was a pool with villas around it and bikini’s. We drove past the rural resort where there was a guy directing us on where to park. We parked amongst the olive bushes and went inside. The guy said people usually go through the other gate but it was ok. What else were we supposed to do I thought. Oh well, another wrong turn, that is nothing new.

The reviews about this tour were mixed so we didn’t know what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised! The guide was informative and funny. He told us about the farm where they had 50,000 bushes. Some of the bushes were 1500 years old. They knew this from carbon dating. When the Romans ruled this area they spaced all of the trees 60 ft apart to allow them to get equal amount of sun and rain. They are now protected bushes. This is more of a desert climate with very little rain which the bushes thrive on. These ancient trees are still producing and the age has nothing to do with the quality of olives. The olives that fall on the ground are used for regular olive oil and the ones that were picked from the tree are made into Extra Virgin oil and must be pressed the same day.

The bushes grow in an upward spiral following the rotation of the earth. Something a Flat Earther would not understand. He took us to a cellar where people were forced to work and live. Some were captured and others were criminals and were cast into slave labor. This was a natural cave that was expanded over time. The mules that turned the press were treated better than the slaves as they had value and were purchased.

The tour continued above with a tasting. We had 3 varieties. The first was an extra virgin oil from the protected old bushes that was bitter and spicy. The second was a blend for cooking. The third was a thicker oil which was supposed to be the best. I personally like the first one the best. 70% of olive oil produced in the world is not quality oil. If it says made in Italy then it is fake. It has to say produced in Italy and have the addresses of the farm and the press on the back of the bottle. Don’t judge by the color. Look for sediment and smell.

After that we headed to the old town of Ostuni. This was a 15 min drive that turned into another adventure. Lori had me routed to a parking area right next to old town. This city is a mountain city with the church at the top as usual. We made our way through town passing by several parking areas at the bottom of the mountain. This only meant a painful walk up into the city. We have found that if you just drive to the city center, obeying signs, we find a parking spot nearly 99% of the time.

We continued following the map which looked pretty straightforward. A few turns and we would be there. Well the route kept changing. Next thing you know we are trapped in a one way abyss. Of course there is a little old lady following me through this maze like she thought I knew what I was doing. She road right in my bumper through walkways that our car nearly scrapped the walls. Finally we ended up in a Piazza (town square) with her in tow. I had 2 choices left and up a hill or right and through the crowd of tourists that were trying to enjoy the Piazza. Backing up was not an option because this lady was basically attached to my bumper! I’m not sure if her cataracts could not focus on my reverse lights but she was not moving. Now I am surrounded by tourists looking at us as Lori laughed! Not helpful! I chose right and krept through the Piazza like I was trying to tip toe so that nobody would see us. We made it through the crowd to a large monument in the middle of the Piazza. At this point I was expecting a rush of Polizia bearing down on me. Somehow we made it to an area with street signs where Lori saw a Farmacia (pharmacy) she wanted out which left me with only one set of eyes. She went shopping for drugs and I went shopping for a parking space. I drove around the park that was right across the street and found a blue parking spot. Blue means that you have to pay. The pay to park kiosk was about 50 ft away. I deciphered the language and it spit out a ticket making me legal. I even started looking around to share my newfound knowledge with some suffering tourists. I strutted across the park to the Farmacia like I owned the place. Lori asked how it went and I beamed with pride.

We parked at the top of the city, somehow, and walked down into the city. It was nice because we already saw most of it on our drive with the little old lady. So there wasn’t much left for us to see. They call this the white city because a lot of buildings are painted white. Apparently this city fell victim to the plague and anyone that had it got their house painted white. Now the white character of this city is protected and residents are required to keep their homes painted white. I believe that they get half of the cost covered by the city but they are required to keep it up every two years.

The city was a nice walk with nice views of the olive groves from above. We found a nice cafe on the alleyway where, earlier, we had the choice of turning left. That little old lady must have been around here somewhere because this is the direction that she went. Lori found a place to eat that was close to our car that made a calzone type of pizza. The only difference is that it was deep fried. We sat outside on the street with cars buzzing by about 5 ft from our table. The deep fried sandwich was good but greasy. Yup, another shirt down. Luckily it was at the end of our day so I didn’t have to sport another stained shirt all day. I guess that is one way to lighten my suitcase.

We were anxious to get back to our hotel and check out the rooftop restaurant which was really nice! We saw Michelin rated stickers on the window that ended at 2018. Hopefully the food is close to that. We had a few drinks and enjoyed the view of the white city and the Adriatic. It was around 5pm when we started getting hungry. Unfortunately the restaurant didn’t open until 7:30pm. We ended up ordering 2 pizzas and having them delivered at 7:30pm when they opened up the kitchen. It was a good before bed snack.

Our room has no A/C, the toilet seat keeps falling off and I have to lean a laundry basket against the shower door to keep it closed. We inquired about the A/C and they said that the hotel is either all heat or all A/C. They recommended that we open the windows with no screens. My response was what about bugs? Their solution was a plugin mosquito repellent. Ok, to avoid giving Americans a bad name we went along with it. Our room faces a busy road so that traffic sound drowned out our TV at night. Eventually I just shut the window and went to bed.

We have 1 more night here of night sweating, lame breakfast and bugs.