5th Dec to 16th Dec 2015

Easter 1998 the company I was working for had to get some documents to Brindisi Italy, with no couriers working during Italy’s most religious weekend, the company needed someone to deliver these documents, I was one of those willing employees, I did ask that if I got picked could I possibly take my boyfriend, I was totally over the moon when we were told yes we could both go.

We flew to Brindisi dropped off the documents, on the flight we met a local who raved about a place called Ostuni, he said if we got a chance we should go, we had one afternoon and decided to check out this Ostuni, they call it the White City.  I remember clearly that first glimpse of the White City, truly breath taking.

We had lunch in a beautiful restaurant called Spessite, it was so special, our whole afternoon left such beautiful, romantic lasting memories, we always said one day we will be back.

So we arrived into Bari at 8am by overnight ferry from Albania, we had Matt a friendly Australian come and pick us up, it’s probably around an hour drive and when we hit that view of the White City we were in awe all over again.

Our Apartment was stunning, the Balcony had the best views

Alleyways of Ostuni

The town (especially the old part) is beautiful, it’s Italy’s white city on top of a hill, the narrow white washed alley ways wind back and forth and up and down through archways every now and then letting you see all the way across the olive tree covered flat land down below to the ocean 10k’s away, there’s mini arches everywhere where one building is supporting it’s neighbour across the alley, everything is white smooth and undulating, when you get a bunch of the arches and steps in all directions all you need are some cartoon creatures and you’d be in a Dr Suess book 😀

Alleyways narrow and widen as you wend your way through them to at once envelope and entice you, cameras work non stop to try and capture the soft white scenes (ours is coming up short so far)

If I sound smitten it’s because I am, this was one of our first and most memorable trips away , so it’s very romantic for us to be back here.

Christmas in Ostuni

Ostuni had a Gorgeous tree in the main square, and everywhere you went there were decorations, it really was in full christmas swing.

Christmas Market

On the Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th eve, we found a cute little Christmas Market, the Tuesday evening they had a really cool band that sang and played instruments with everything and anything they could find, they had quite an extensive selection on stage with them.

There were not a lot of stalls but it was very sweet and a lot of people, locals, turned up…they had a little puppet show for everyone and it was really funny, he had the little girl puppet dancing away..

You could get coupons and had a small choice of stall food, like fish in batter, fried cheese, meatballs but mainly donuts and sweets.

What is Pettole?

It’s like little balls of pancake mix, and they are yum with or without sugar, plain without but warm and still tasty, but then I am a huge pancake fan…

In Ostuni the tradition is that the pettole are prepared on December 7, the day of the eve of the Immaculate conception and they are sold during the Christmas Period.

It is customary to prepare the dough for pettole the early morning of December 24 to fry and eat them while still hot around noon as a “snack” waiting for Christmas Eve dinner.

More Photos of Ostuni

Literally every time we stepped outside the apartment we got the same feeling of awe..sometimes you walk around not really taking it in and you catch yourself suddenly double taking at an archway or some of the many winding white steps, going `OMG’ this is sooo beautiful, there was a little part of me that says how can a place be this beautiful, it’s like someone went around asking tourists if we were to make a town how would you like it and boom here they have it the perfect tourist town, only it’s not…it’s real.

GIPAS 111 Lounge

This is a cool little lounge bar, we came in here to kill an hour before the restaurants opened, our first day was a strange day, because we hadn’t eaten breakfast or a proper lunch we were hungry too early for the restaurants…

Anyway what a little find, the boys ordered a pretty amazing looking virgin Pina Colada, whilst Grant and I enjoyed a Havana and coke, we had a great family conversation about lots of silly stuff and laughed a lot..these are my favourite times.

As we were paying I noticed a girl drawing, she said she was just colouring in, it was for anyone having a drink in the bar…there were crayons provided and you could just colour away…What a fun and cool idea…Luke added his little bit to the picture.

Il Pozzo dei Desideri

On our first night out we picked this Restaurant, the boys were desperate to try their 1st Italian Pizza, we had to wait until 7.30 for it to open so waited in the Gipas 111 Lounge.

We ordered fried Vegetables, which I didn’t think were great as they were too fried, pasta dish for Grant and 3 pizza’s, I have been having mushroom cravings so I picked Mushroom Pizza, Lucas Salami Pizza and Jacob Margarita all with italians famous buffalo Mozzarella and they were delicious, we had pizza afterwards in other places and Jacob said this one was his favourite by far.  Not that I ever really order pizza but I have to say I did think they were particularly good.

Spessite’ Restaurant

Grant and I had to have a Romantic night in Spessite, seeing as this Restaurant was where we ate 17 years ago when we came to Ostuni.  We had a very special evening here again, apparently was even the same chef 🙂 so had to grab a photo..

Restaurant L’arco Dei Sapori

This is the prettiest decorated restaurant, outside is full of flowers and Christmas decorations, I knew as we walked past early on in the week that we had to come back here for our last Sat Meal out..

The staff were friendly and the food was really good, especially the antipasti, the prawns and pasta…actually is was all really very good.

The total bill came to over 80Euros so not a cheap night out but we did have a drink and a great family night so totally worth it.

Airbnb Accommodation

Airbnb Ostuni – Amazing apartment in an Amazing Location.

Debbie the owner of the Apartment made sure that you had every bit of info that you needed, she was always super fast to answer any question via E mail that we had.

Pauline who looks after the house was lovely, she really helped us out when we needed a Dr’s Appointment, not sure what I would have done without her.

The apartment had everything you needed and more for a comfortable stay, Jacob loved having his own area down stairs, said it was his favourite place to date.  The Balconies and the views of the white city were incredible and if a little warmer think we would have happily ate breakfast, lunch and most dinners up there.

Cost $1002.00 (449 Pounds) for 11 nights