Backlog of Stories

Four of the eight from the trip are back safely in Little Rock after 32 hours of travel, a missed connection, and the drive from Dallas.

Internet access was intermittent during the second part of the trip, so there are days and days of stories, thoughts, and pictures to share as time unfolds. It will likely take a few weeks to slowly parse them out on here . . . at least that is how I am planning on going through my little journal.

I took notes because I wanted to be actively engaged in the vacation and not because I was thinking ahead to a blog. I am grateful to get to share our experiences with everyone who is reading this and rest assured there will be more pictures and words to follow soon.

I believe there are over 4K pictures taken over 6 different memory cards at a minimum. Several of us got pretty good at taking a quick snapshot from the bike, but eventually there are only so many pictures of olive trees you can take. Even though each tree is beautiful and unique, there is so much more to document and some things must be left for stories told out loud and to the imagination.

Here is what it is like to ride in Puglia. This is not the most scenic portion of the trip but it is good riding nonetheless. On either side of the road you see really old olive trees. Briefly, I turned the camera around and you can see Karen and Nikolai riding behind me.

On the Road to Monopoli

This is a short clip of the folks on the bike trip rounding a corner on the way to Monopoli. The weather is gorgeous. It's in the '80's during the day and in the '60's at night. It's not humid and there is not a cloud in the sky.

Catching Up on Thoughts - The plane rides

We have a few hours free and I thought I would take the chance to put a bit of the little journal I had been keeping on here. I have taken over 300 pictures since I got here, some good, some bad, some utterly atrocious, but I donàt have the memory card reader my father is using to load them. This means you are stuck with my words alone for the time being:

An Easterward Excursion
or a recor of the experiences and memories of Puglia

It has been some time since I last wrote about journeys or thoughts. Perhaps this will do both. In the air, the first step to Italy with my family, on the way to Dallas, it is the first time to start really preparing for this vacations. My head has been muddied and muddled for most of the past year. I hope to drop the facade and truly relax and enjoy this trip. This travelogue will have notes, ideas, inspirations and, perhaps most importantly, a record of the photographs taken.
-05\20\09
-----
The travel has begun. It is most certainly benign so far. I am now on a flight to Germany, watching amovie I never saw in theatres and exhausted already. Actually, since it is midnight in Italy, I donàt mind the tired. I am getting anxious and maybe a bit nervous. I want to be excited, and that may still happeb yet.
So far? One bad glass of red.
One gin&Tonic, through the airport
One airline G&T added to that mix ... though I did not see the Campari and would deifnitely have chosen that. Forgot this was a European airline.

Looks like I am in Canadian airspace. Must let Robert know he was right.

Sleep was not very conducive. I did try but instead, I am managed to watch a few movies I had missed, have a few glasses of wine & stumble through customs. I blinked and missed the cognac (after the meal).

Another plane & off to another country. Customs & security in the middle of the Frankfurt airport caught me in full sleep deprived mode.

Stopover in the eternal city ... or, well, the Rome airport. It is the land of cool. The number of suits, snazzy sunglasses, and fantastic shoes is legion. I must say I am pleased with this, but I am vain and self-possessed clothes horse. Even the 80 year old grandparents a few feet away exude a sense of style and cool while waiting for the plane, from shoes to glasses, jewelery and suits in between. There is a gauntlet of designer boutiques upstairs . . if this were not my first day, I would have already spent all my money.
WIth a three hour layover on the way back here, there can be purchases then.
05\21\09

The Dinner Table

This is slightly overexposed pic of our dinner table. From left Marco, our guide, Nikolai, Karen, Micah, Kelly, Joel.

I could hardly speak during our introduction to the group. We were supposed to say who we were and why we came on this trip. But as each of my boys said, "We are John and Karen's son" the emotion welled up. When it came to me, I could not get a word out. All I could remember was my father saying as he became sick last year "I just want my family around me." Finally, after what seemed like forever, I said that this was a special day because I was in Puglia with my family. My dad's death, my cancer, my surgery made me appreciate how special this trip was going to be.

More and more I understand how past and future come together in the Puglia present.

Here is picture of the golf course at Masseria Torre Maizza. The course is full of 5-750 year old olive trees.

A Briefest of Beginnings

It is rather early here, just after midnight, but I wanted to add my thoughts to the journey.

I have been fortunate enough to be John & Karen's oldest son and first, I must express my thanks to them for this utterly memorable family vacation. It has already been the trip of a lifetime and there are days yet to come and miles, or kilometers, yet to ride.

I have been recording my thoughts and my impressions in a notebook. Amazingly enough, I have managed to fill nearly 10 pages in the brief time we have been here. I may yet transcribe a bit of that as time progresses, but I must be awake and ready to hit the bicycle in a scant seven hours.

I have been struck by the two worlds we have seen - the juxtaposition of the ancient and the modern has certainly remained with me. I was the caddy for my brothers and fther as they golfed this morning in the middle of a field of five hundred year old olive trees. The trees are so old that many of them are held up by cinderblocks so their own weight will not topple them. I have taken over two hundred photos since we got here at seven p.m. Thursday, local.

For those of you reading this, I will assure you that this is the trip of a lifetime and that we have much to share when we return and I will endeavor to share as much as I can when we find out ways to the internet while here. A great weight was lifted from my shoulders while here and I can only hope that all of you - m friends, family, and acquaintances - have the same chance this year to feel rejuvenated and reborn.

One warning, I have been reading Hunter S. Thompson on this trip, so my writings may be a bit . . . colored by this. Hammett is next.

First Ride Done

We finished our first ride today. In the morning, Andrew, Nikolai, and I played golf. It's a nine hole course set among really old olive trees. It was a challenge for me but fun for the golf players. Joel caddied and Micah carried our cameras. Karen, Kelly, and Dawn went to the beach.

In the afternoon, we went for our first ride. It was short - about 7 miles total - but fascinating. We rode through olive groves to the site of an ancient ruin. Here is a link but it's in Italian. It has pictures, though.

I was pretty emotional today. It was enough that my family was here with me but the fact that I was riding a bike with them was a powerful feeling. Tomorrow we go to Monopoli, the hometown of my grandfather. That will be a special day to have my family with me.

BTW, if you receive an email notice that I have posted and you want to reply, don't reply by email because I am not checking email and they won't show up on the blog. Comment on a post on the blog itself. Grazie a mille.

Half of the Breakfast Spread at Torre Maizza

This is less than HALF of the breakfast spread at the Masseria. What you can't see: a selection of salumi and cheeses (salume e formaggio), two kinds of foccacia, one stuffed with cheese and ham and the juices (strawberry cream, pineapple, orange and unknown.)

A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

The Innocent and the Guilty

The words above the door, "Regia Corte", means King's Court. Our hotel renovated the buildings that used to house the court and turned the courtroom into a guest room. The doors on either side of the bed use to lead to stairways. After judgement, the innocent exited the courtroom on the right, the guilty on the left and took stairs down to the street below. The court sat across a large piazza and below the sassi on the opposite side. People watching could determine the outcome of cases by the stairs the parties used.

Torre Maizza

The good news: the rest of the family arrived. The bad news: half of them are missing luggage. But they are here, safe and sound. We are staying at the Masseria Torre Maizza. The first picture is the masseria reception area and pro shop (more on that later) the second picture is of the flowers that line the walk way to our rooms. Gorgeous.

We had a festive dinner at the sister Masseria, Torre Coccaro, a late night dinner, and then to bed. Today, some golf with some of the boys on a nine hole golf course set amongst ancient olive trees (5 to 8 hundred years old or older) then a short ride to some pre-Roman era ruins.

The change from Matera is remarkable. Matera is angular from the hodge-podge of the sassi lumped on top of one another up the mountain. Moving around takes effort because the streets, such as they are, are narrow and steep. But here the landscape has flattened and the angles softened. Moving is easy but sometimes it feels like you haven't gotten anywhere.

This is a view at dusk of some the Sassi Barisano of Matera. Notice how steep the grade is. We walked up from the lowest visible level to our restaurant. This was about halfway up (or Down!)

We left Matera and arrived at our next hotel, the Masseria Torre Maizza. Masseria are old fortified farms leftover over from Puglia's feudal past. Today, many of them are agriturismo or resorts:working farms that also serve as hotels, spas, golf courses etc.

The picture is a night view of one Matera's old churches, St. John the Baptist, my patron saint whose day is celebrated on my father's birthday and who was the namesake of my aunt, Sr. Battistina.

Matera is such a fascinating city. It is full of interesting side streets, surprises, etc. We went into an ancient church carved into the mountain. The church dates to the 11th century. Of course, it's a cave but the walls were painted and some of it remains.

My bags finally arrived and I changed clothes when I arrive at Maizza. Tomorrow, the riding starts.

Ciao.

We arrived in Matera. The picture to the left is our hotel! The picture above is our room! The picture on the top left is what you find around every corner in this mysterious town.

Bad news: my luggage did not arrive. I hope it shows up tomorrow because ... well, use your imagination.

Off to dinner. More tomorrow.

Ciao.

Greeting the troops

We got to DFW ridiculously early. We can't check in for four more hours. While we were having coffee some military personel returned from duty. A large group of volunteers lined the exit and cheered each one, shaking their hands as they went by. Karen's father was a colonel and he died in 2004. I think we were where we were supposed to be. She stood in line and greeted each one.

View of the Sassi Caveoso

Sassi Caveoso BW, originally uploaded by JohnDiP.

This is a picture of Matera, the first town we visit. We took this in 2007 when we visited. The town is ancient and is essentially a cave city. The houses hang from the side of the mountain. Carlo Levy wrote about Matera in his book, "Christ Stopped at Eboli." Levy was exiled to this region (Basilicata) by Mussolini. The title evokes the utter desolation of the area during WWII. Entire families lived in Matera's dwellings, called Sassi. In the '50's, the government moved the people to a new city on the top of the hill. Gradually, people moved back in and gentrified the sassi. We will stay in a very nice hotel that has made rooms out of the caves. Still, Southern Italy in general and Basilicata, in particular, are very poor compared to Northern Italy.

Pictures from the last puglia trip

Click here for a link to a flickr collection of puglia pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnkaren/collections/72157600311807742/

Getting Ready

This blog will chronicle our bicycle trip to puglia in May 2009. This is our second trip there. Karen and I went in 2007 and it was magical. This time we are returning with our four adult sons. I was moved by the 2007 trip because my grandparents are from Puglia. I felt that I was seeing the world through their eyes. I want my sons to have a visceral sense of who they are and where they came from. It is important that they not only see but smell, taste, and hear their ancestry.

Besides their presence on the trip, other events make it especially meaningful. My father died on December 9, 2008. He was my hero: an intelligent man who could not speak fluent English until he was almost ten and who never finished high school, he inspired all of his children to become the best people we could be. He was loyal (sometimes to a fault) generous and kind. I miss him every day.

On January 9, 2009, I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. I knew that it was common and that treatments were effective but .... it's still cancer. Nearly 30ooo men die every year and I am only 56. I had surgery on March 11 and, because of the skill of Dr. Keith Mooney, I am fully recovered.

S0 - the finality of death (as trite as that sounds) makes me understand the blessings of my life (as trite as that sounds) But let's not make the sophisticated the enemy of the true. I am happy to be alive, aware of life's fragility, and grateful for my wife and children. This trip is a way for me to connect to my past and my future. Buon Viaggio.