Neither of us can believe that we've been married for ten years. Okay, maybe not every moment has been blissful, but overall, we've had a great time in these ten years. Looking back at it, it feels like we got married very young, especially given that most of our friends have gotten married in the last 3 years or so, but after dating for 6 years it felt like the time was right. Nonetheless, we are both really thankful that we've grown together over the years instead of apart!
So as this big milestone approached and having all of Europe in our backyard, there was a lot of pressure to put together a momentous trip to mark the occasion. We discussed it and researched and researched, consulted with others, went to the book store, spent countless hours on Fodors and Tripadvisor and in the end Greg recommended we head to Puglia, Italy. This was on our list for some time, but we weren't sure if it could beat our Tuscany trips. Also, we felt that we might get bored being in one place for ten days, so we decided to start the trip in the Champagne region of France. It was a place I've been wanting to see for a while and seemed a great place to kick off a celebratory trip.
We flew from London to Paris (cheaper than a one way ticket on the Eurostar), picked up a car and were in Epernay in time for lunch. Epernay was larger than we imagined and was surprisingly empty of tourists...we actually found this to be the case most of the trip. I am not sure if this due to the weak dollar, the global recession or both, but it was a bit odd to have it so quiet.
In the afternoon, we toured the Moet Chandon house and caves, which was fascinating and highly recommended. Napoleon was a close friend of the family and would always make a run though Epernay on his way to major battles to stock up on champagne so he could celebrate with champers when he was victorious. The caves are dug out of the chalk ground that naturally occurs in the area and maintains a constant temperature and humidity making it a perfect spot to age bubbly. Their oldest bottle was from the late 1800s and they have more than 10 million bottles in stock. These caves (nearly twenty miles of them belong to Moet Chandon and several hundred all together if you include the other champagne houses of Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot, Piper, etc.) were instrumental during WWI, as entire cities moved underground to avoid the bombing. Reims (the largest city in the region and on the front throughout the war) was bombed for more than 1000 days straight and nearly every building was destroyed including most of the Cathedral of Reims - the place where kings of France were crowned.
Okay, enough of the history lesson. The area is beautiful, full of vineyards, old French chateaus, castles, and forests. We stayed at Chateau d'Etoges which was built in the 17th century and we loved its moat, swans, ducks, chickens and garden. The staff were very friendly and had a great restaurant, delicious breakfast, but they need to update their rooms to match the rest of the inn. Overall, it was a great start to the trip, but would probably recommend spending only one full day and night there (or even a day trip from Paris is pretty easy to manage) since there is only so much champagne one can taste in a day - even for me!
We didn't really have much of a plan for day three. All we knew is we needed to be at the Holiday Inn at Orly (posh, I know, but there weren't really any great options near the airport...actually, it was surprisingly new and clean) at the end of the day for our flight the next day to Napoli. Greg had never been to the beaches at Normandy and I remember going when I was a kid and thinking it was pretty cool, so we headed west. We were just outside of Paris at around lunch time and decided lunch at our favorite Bistrot Vivienne was in order. Driving in Paris was challenging, but parking in Paris was impossible! We made it, but it took much longer than we imagined. After a satisfying lunch, we hit the road and got to the beaches at around 6pm....when everything closed. We'll just have to go back one day, but we saw Omaha Beach and the drive was lovely. After dinner in Caen, we hit the road back to Paris. Despite not looking that far in the map, it was a long day in the car.
An uneventful flight got us to Napoli where we picked up the car and drove to what I like to call the stiletto heel of the boot, Puglia. Unfortunately, this meant another three hour drive (there weren't any great flights to Bari, a much closer airport) but it was more than worth it in the end. The landscape was full of farmland and olive groves. It was extremely windy and there were a few field fires - one that caused a very serious accident only a few cars in front of us and was a good reminder to both of us that life can change in an instant.
We arrived in the coastal town of Fasano and at the spectacular Massaria Torre Maizza at last. We were not disappointed, which was such a relief after all that planning. Greg is a fantastic job of finding a perfect spot to spend the rest of our trip. I can't say enough great things about this hotel. The service was impeccable, the food was amazing, the pool and bar were both relaxing and hip, and the rooms were luxurious and had a unique, un-hotel like athstetic. We were in heaven.
Our days were filled will spectacular breakfasts with nearly 40 plus options of gorgeous fruit, cheese, meat, pasties, etc and lots of much needed pool time. At night we headed into neighboring towns for dinner and would recommend Osteria La Madonnia in Ostuni for a great meal and celebrated the official day with dinner at Osteria Sotto L'Arco in Brindisi (be sure to ask for their one outside table looking over the plaza).
Puglia is actually responsible for something like 80% of Italy's pasta, olive oil and much of its produce, so you can imagine the food here is amazing. While not yet famous for their wines, the are gaining popularity. We tried a few of the Primitivos (similar to Zinfandels) and a Negroamaro which is much subtler and delicious. I also tried a delicious after dinner drink made of almonds (think a jordan almond in a glass) called latte della mandorla that I must fine a recipe for as it was amazing.
We could really only tear ourselves away from the pool for one day (the sun wasn't out in the morning) and headed into Alberobello which is famous for it's trullo style of house. It turns out that these clever Apulians knew the only home owners had to pay taxes, so they built a type of house that could be easily dismantled when the tax man came - they look like they would be pretty hard to take apart to me, but what do I know? Should you find yourself in this town, you must lunch at La Cantina towards the church off the main plaza. Here you will feel like you are at the owners home and enjoy a delicious meal.
It was an outstanding trip - our best yet!
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