Hey, it’s Pille here. Last month I wrote an article about how I came up with my personal project, Planet Pille, and how I want to inspire people to become more sustainable. One way to do so is by choosing sustainable traveling. Read further to discover the sustainable trips I have done during the last weeks. Sustainable travel means finding a way that tourism can be maintained long-term without harming natural and cultural environments. It’s about a commitment, to dream, discover, and live so that future generations still have a path to explore. Finally it is the “yellow zone” in Puglia, which means that we are allowed to travel throughout the region and even outside to visit the rest of Italy! I have been waiting for this moment for such a long time. I have already done two “sustainability trips” inside Apulia. The first trip was to Taranto which is the third-largest continental city in southern Italy. Taranto is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. It was a very beautiful and lively city!! The second one almost broke me! Valle D’Itria, where I used only trains and a bike. Valle D’Itria isn’t that long biking itself but the landscape there is very challenging. When I shared this idea with everyone at Ciccloficina, they told me I was crazy! So far I had seen only flat Apulia, so I had no idea it had hidden surprises like this. Luckily Mauricio offered me a better bike for the weekend. Did you guys know they rent professional bikes at such a low rate?! The bike itself was sooo beautiful, in my favorite color and with such good breaks and gears. I even forgot once that the bike had such strong breaks and almost flipped over the front. :)) Nothing serious happened, just broke my phone holder. I was so happy to bike with this bike. Mine here in Lecce is a bit old and more simple without gears or a soft seat. Valle D’itria is a valley that spreads over the provinces of Bari, Brindisi and Taranto. But the word “valley” is an inaccurate term because it’s not the typical style of mountain area valleys: it is just a depression due to karstic phenomena. Some of the most well-known towns in the area are Alberobello, Locorotondo, Cisternino, Ostuni and Martina Franca. I started my trip by taking a train from Lecce to Cisternino. I found out that Cisternino train station is about 11 km from the city. According to Google Maps it should have been around a 54 minute ride, but in reality it turned out to be at least 2,5 hours. After leaving the train station the road started to go uphill. First I didn’t realize it and didn’t understand why my bike was not moving at all, thinking it should be a new bike. When I looked back where I started biking I realized that there hasn’t been any flat road. I biked with some stops until I got to the hardest part of the trip. The last 4 or so kilometers to Cisternino felt like they were about 60 degrees uphill! The professional cyclists that streamed past me biked like it was nothing of course. After wandering around in Cisternino I continued my trip to Marta Franca. This is around 9 km away and according to Google was supposed to take like 40 minutes. This road was not as bad as the first one because it was downhill and uphill. The last part before reaching the city center was difficult again. On the way there I had many stops because there are so many trullo houses on the way. Trullo houses are a traditional Apulian dry stone hut with a conical roof what look like ice cream cones for a roof, so cute!! They were generally constructed as temporary field shelters and storehouses or as permanent dwellings by small proprietors or agricultural labourers.
My trip ended in Fasano where I took the train back to Lecce. But before reaching the last city I had to get down the hill. On my way back it started to pour, the heavy rain made the road quite slippery and because of the already considerable downhill slope, I was going wayyyy too fast. I think I held the brakes almost the whole way down, but what a view! When I was planning it, I wanted to visit Alberobello again, but after seeing how challenging the road was I skipped it. I had already visited Alberobello too, so I didn’t feel too down because of it. Thank you so much Ciclofficina for sponsoring me with such a good and pretty bike, without it I wouldn’t have made it to all the places I planned to go! This bike made my trip easier and a lot safer! I really started to like that bike, so it felt weird when I had to sit back on my old one! :D If you want to know where to eat or what to see there then feel free to leave a comment or check out my friend Elisa’s blog article about her trip to Valle D’Itria! (in Italian)
0 Comments
|
Archives
November 2021
|