Emergency Vacation to Italy

With COVID seeming to be under control, we tried to return to the normal routine of Chika and the boys travelling to Japan during the summer school break. But a few weeks beforehand there was a sudden change in the regulations: quarantine requirements jumped from 3 days to 14 days, a deal breaker for a one month trip.

So we launched an emergency holiday plan. I had always wanted to go back to Puglia after visiting there for my friend’s 30th birthday. Another contact at work had enticed us with this video and then we were sold. The next challenge that confronted us was that our destination was 1400km from Munich — how will Kai and Teo survive an endless car journey? And while there were many places we wanted to visit, packing up every day and getting back into a car wasn’t the family holiday we wanted. With this in mind, we sketched out a rough plan. First, we would stop for 2 nights in Bologna. Then after staying at with our friend Vincenzo in his hometown of Cerignola for the night (at least no check-in/check-out required) we would have a full interupted week by the beach before an intense 2 day return drive (which was originally planned for 3 days, but the weather was too good to leave).

The first day was a leisurely day. We had booked an airbnb in the center of the old city and already had the access codes to enter. We organized a rapid covid test in the morning as we were told we needed it to enter Italy. (In fact, there wasn’t any border control on the way or the way back!!!). Without much fuss, we drove straight through to Bologna. After settling into our Airbnb — a very nice loft apartment in a lovely buiilding perfectly located in the old town — we had a lovely 1st meal of fresh seafood at Pescheria San Gervasio in the area around the market hall. Fanatstic! Kai and I stayed out to watch the EUFA quarterfinals between England and Denmark.

The next day Chika had some work calls, so the boys and I went exploring and had a nice breakfast. We picked up Chika and decided to give the boys a ramen lunch as there wasn’t going to be much asian food futher south. We topped off with some awesome gelato at Cremeria La Vecchia Stalla and managed some cultural exposure at Basilica di Santo Stefano.

We really wanted pasta with clams and booked a restaurant in the east of the city. Heading there by foot, it was clear we were entering the bohemian are of town. Compared to previous evening, food wasn’t as mindblowing but with the help of some gelato everyone went home happy.

The next morning, we wanted to get on the road to make it to our friends place for lunch. A small snag as the garage which was supposed to upen at 6.30am was completely shuttered, but after a quick text to our Airbnb concierge things were sorted and we were on our way. We were warmly greeted by our friend Vincenzo and has family, given a tour of his grandfather’s apartment which he had re-acquired and redone, and then was treated to a home cooked meal (which when eating out all the time is extra appreciated). Vincenzo then brought us to his local sports club to cool off in the pool — much needed due to the long travels and warm temperature. We had simple evening back home bringing in some excellent pizzas from the shop a 2 blocks away (Vincenzo assured me that he has tested all the places and it is the best in Cerignola). In the morning Kai and grabbed a coffee with Vincenzo at his local spot (open 24 hours!) before he had to leave to a speaking engagement. Luckily, he was heading south as well so the reunion still has a few more chapters to go.

We drove on to Lecce (the Florence of the south) and continued to enjoy the fresh, raw seafood. Kai loved it so much he ordered a second place of tuna carpaccio all for himself. The crew decided it was too hot for sightseeing, so we headed onwards to San Foce where our beach was.

It’s always an mental adventure when you show up to an Airbnb apartment for the first time. Just for example, my suspicion that the washer and dryer was shared and not in the apartment came true (it was on our floor, so not that bad). The views from the flat were amazing however, and the air conditioning was devine. There were even some extra bonuses like a large fire escape access (not a full terrace, but none was advertised either) and nice showers and communal drying racks on the ground floor.

We grew to enjoy the apartment. Access to the beach was basically across the street with 2 nice lidos where you could rent chairs/umbreallas as well as get coffees (1€ expresso macchiato!) or slushees. We took advantage almost every day.

As per protocol, I did my morning excursion to see out the best bakery (the advice from the Airbnb host was to go out into the main strip). It was more choosing between small and smaller coffee shops. Good, but I knew Italy has better. For the sake of my calorie consumption, it probably turned out to be a good thing.

On the 3rd day of our beach week, we planned to meet Vincenzo at the time share resort he was staying at in Alimini. It was a massive complex of complexes with resorts next to one another on a long broad beach. The water was very shallow and clear compared to the Jersey shore of my youth — but much more piece of mind for the boys to play more on their own with lifeguards on duty. After a full day, on the way back home in search of a grocery store in Torre Della’orso we discovered an amusement park which we returned back to multiple times. Note: the grocery stores in the beach towns are quite limited.

Since we didn’t get to really see Lecce on the way down because it was too hot, we made a second attempt by trying early in the morning. Based on Vincenzo’s advice, we had a great breakfast at Caffè Alvino with direct view of the ancient amphitheater. In fact, I would rank it as my top destination for a good cornetto. Unfortunately, we only managed to get in a view of one basilica before we couldn’t take the moaning of the boys any longer. We headed back to the apartment for some beach time / relax time before the big event: The EUFA 2020 Final of Italy vs. England. I had spotted a sign a day before at one of the local restaurants promoting the game and reserved us a table. The venue was fantastic: beautiful rooftop with a massive projection wall. The game was an emotional roller coaster, with England scoring just 2 minutes into the game, rolling all the way through overtime to penalties with Italy victorious in the end. A definite highlight of the trip.

The next morning, Kai and I set out around 7am to check out the Grotta Della Poesia insde Roca, a natural swimming pool dating back to the bronze age. We loved it so much we returned the next day with Teo, then realizing 7am without tourist mobs is much better than going at 10am.

We had originally planned to leave the next (Friday) afternoon, but as the weather north was fading and the weather south doing better it was only logical to stay. This allowed us to visit Vincenzo and family again in Alimini, closing with a final epic dinner at Laltro Baffo and tour in Otranto. If that wasn’t enough, we went back to Torre della’Orso to meet my work colleague and let the boys have one last go on the trampolines.

Finally it was time to head back. We did a long stretch of about 800km back to Bologna. The good news was that we passed through the bad weather and were able to enjoy a nice dinner and stroll through Bologna, including the best pasta Bolognese of my life at La Taverna Di Roberto. The last leg was not without its own adventure, with detours due to traffic and flooded roads, but successfully managed.

I am not sure when we will be ready for the next 4000+km roadtrip, but at least we know that we can make it great fun as a family.