Our bike tour was to begin in Trulli today, so we had to transport the bikes to the starting point an hour away. When our transport arrived in Trulli we were to tour the ancient city before embarking on our daily ride.
Since the temperature had dropped to less than 50 degrees and we were having 30 mph wind gusts our VBT guides Debora and Giuliano gave us the option of extending our time in Trulli. Turned out to be a great idea. We were left to explore the ancient city.
Mimmo, our city guide was born and has lived his entire life in Trulli. He took us to his house as part of the tour and showed us how the trulli homes are roofed with interlocking stones without mortar on concrete.
There are several versions of the history of the trulli houses .. my favorite comes from Mimmo. The story goes that back in the 16th century the King forced the Earls to pay a charge for each estate under their rule. The Earls did not want to pay tribute to the King. Rather than pay the King, the Earls then forced the peasants, who had moved into the area of the Alberobello, to build their homes without the use of mortar or other materials cementing the homes together, so they could break them down quickly if the King sent inspectors to value their lands.[slideshow]
After our tour, Mimmo took us to a “meat” restaurant for lunch. There, we ate our way through seven courses of ‘typical’ cuisine.
Small wonder that none of the cyclists were interesting in going out to dinner tonight.
