La Dolce Vita

Ah yes, here we are - now over half way through out stay in Ostuni, Italy - as well as half way through our European trip - and I can happily report that life is in fact good.

Since my last blog post, we've left Greece and made our way to Italy via another overnight ferry from Igoumenista to Bari.

Unlike previous overnight ferry journeys this trip wasn't as comfortable, as approximately three months ago when looking to book our ferry journeys I was tempted by an "airplane style seat" sale which meant that we'd all be transported for less than £100.

Three months ago, that sounded like a pretty good idea - but sitting on a dock at 11:30pm with a screaming toddler waiting for our boat to arrive (three overnight ferries, three delayed departures - I think I've spotted a pattern) and I was beginning to wonder if it had been a prudent purchase or not.

Once on the boat, we were lucky enough to secure two seats near the front of the cabin, which meant we could setup our travel cot and put Milly down - which sorted out our screaming toddler problem.

Unfortunately the lights on all night/blaring TV showing Greek soap operas/large Greek man snoring problems were tougher to sort out, and as such I suspect I only had about half an hour sleep between 3 and 4 in the morning - ouch.

The next morning we disembarked onto the port at Bari - the sun was shining and the Italian coffee and pastries were tasty - despite our lack of sleep life was good once again.

An hours drive later, we arrived at our next long term destination, Ostuni - an ancient walled city set at the top a hill approximately 6 miles from the coast.

Having collected the keys to our apartment, I then proceeded to lump all our bags out of the car and then collapsed - exhausted with my days efforts even though it wasn't yet midday.

Over the course of the next few days Claire, Milly and I took our time to acclimatise ourselves to our surroundings. Our apartment is right next to the communal park - which has a children's play area - much to Milly's delight.

Within a block there are some excellent local food shops - a bakery, a green grocer, a cheese shop and a fish store - all of which offer fresh, cheap, local produce and whose services we have been making the most of to ensure that we've eaten like Italian kings since we arrived.

Once we were comfortable with our immediate surroundings, I also attempted to purchase a prepaid mobile phone sim which would allow us to connect to the internet - something that we'd done in Greece and had been really useful - both for keeping in touch with friends and family and researching places we'd like to go.

Whilst the initial purchase was quite straight forward, unfortunately the actual connecting to the internet proved problematic - and without going into specific details - it eventually took seven days of daily visits to the mobile phone store and €60 before we were finally connected - like David Cameron, had I known at the start what a hassle it would have been I think I would have happily not bothered - oh well, you live and you learn?

Ostuni is a lovely city - like Crete it closes down from about 2pm till 5pm - but once it opens back up again it is extremely busy - it seems that the locals like nothing better than to go out walking the central streets after dark - to help facilitate this the main streets are blocked off to traffic, enabling you to walk around freely.

With having Milly, we haven't been able to go out later than about 9:30, but from what we've seen - it only gets busier later on - the picture above is an example of the main square at about this time - with the cathedral in the background.

Our friend Kristyn has joined us for this second week, which has been nice - it's allowed us to take turns looking after Milly whilst the others go out and do adult things - like shopping or going to a bar for a drink - tonight Kristyn has kindly offered to babysit whilst Claire and I go out for dinner - just the two of us - a rare treat indeed.

With just over a week remaining in Ostuni, it's sad to think that our time here will soon come to an end - I know that the swift passage of time has been a recurring theme in my posts - but it really doesn't feel like 7 weeks since we left our lives in London.

Despite the fact that it's all going a bit too quickly for my liking, we are having an amazing time - and as the Italians would say... la dolce vita - life is good.

Trip in numbers:

Miles since N15: 3751.6

Beard Length: 2cm - although I did trim the moustache and daggy bits this morning, turns out that having a beard isn't nearly as much fun as I thought? Let's just say gelato and moustaches don't really mix - although I am determined to preserver with it....

Glasses broken since leaving London: 10+ - for whatever reason no glass seems to be safe since departing London for Europe - it's not that Milly is particularly responsible for all breakages either - both Claire and I have contributed - hopefully breaking a glass isn't the same as breaking a mirror?