Our plane landed at Bari, Italy, at 5:20 p.m. a little before scheduled. We cleared immigration and customs without incident. We found our favorite tour captain, Mark Story, immediately as we were leaving the baggage claim area.
For about 45 minutes, Mark drove the four of us to Masseria Lamacerase, our place of lodging just outside Polignano a Mare. Mark and Roxi Crews had arrived a few hours earlier. Traveling buddies Leah Stiver and Teresa Cooper checked in later. Teresa served as the driver of a second vehicle when needed. We all met for supper under a grapevine arbor at 9:00. It was shortly after midnight before we got to bed. We took sleeping pills and were soon asleep.
DAY 3
Sunday, 13 September 2027
Our alarm woke us at 7 a.m. The tour group of eight had breakfast together at 8:30. At 10 o'clock we all gathered for a brief devotional and communion service led by our tour captain.
About 10:30, Mark Story drove us into Polignano a Mare, where he led us on a Discovery Walk of the town. It was a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine and pleasant temperatures in the 70s. Near the seashore there is a statue of
Domenico Modugno who was born in Polignano a Mare in 1928. He is famous for writing the famous Italian song, "Volare."
Our group stopped for lunch together at 1:30 at a pizzeria. The Coles and Walkers enjoyed insalata caprese and Margherita pizzas. Before going back to the parking lot, we all stopped at a gelateria for gelato. Jeannie remained in town with Leah and Teresa to shop while the rest of us returned to our villas about 3 p.m. Mark Story brought them back to our lodging compound around 5:30.
Beginning about sundown, once again we ate a several-course Italian meal outdoors under the grapevine arbor. We enjoyed celebrating Mark Crews' birthday with an Italian cake. Our evening meal finished shortly before 11 p.m.
DAY 4
Monday, 14 September 2026
Breakfast was served at 8:30. At the request of Jeannie, Roxi, and Linda, Mark Story gave them a ride to town to shop during our unscheduled morning. Michael rode along, returning to the villa with Mark. Teresa and Michael joined Mark about 11:30 on the trip back to town to retrieve the shopping ladies.
For our afternoon free time, five of us were transported about 2½ miles to Villa Delle Rose Puglia by Mark Story at 12:30. There the property owner, Rina, guided us around her olive grove, which has a great view of the Adriatic Sea. She provided us a very educational tasting of olive oil made from her trees. Then in the shade of an olive tree she presented us with a delicious lunch all created from local ingredients.
After Mark Story returned to pick us up about 3:30, we continued to enjoy the experience. We purchased some lavender oil that was produced from Rina's lavender fields. By 4:30 we were back in our villas.
Our tour group met at 6:30 p.m. to ride into Polignano a Mare. We enjoyed the most awesome experience of a six-course meal at Ristorante Grotta Palazzese, built in a sea cave with a terrific view of the Adriatic Sea. After the meal our group was transported in two vehicles back to the parking site. A few of us were privileged to share the ride with the restaurant owner, who graciously answered our many questions about his very unique restaurant.
By 10:20 we were all back in our rooms. As usual for the two of us, we took sleeping pills for the 3rd night in a row. Years ago we found that taking sleeping pills the first 3 nights helps us avoid jet lag in an overseas country. We repeat this practice for our first 3 nights after we return home. Otherwise the 7-hour time difference with Italy would take at least a week to overcome.
DAY 5
Tuesday, 15 September 2026
We were up at 6 a.m. and went to breakfast at 7:30. Our group departed in two vehicles at 9:00. About 10 o'clock we arrived at Alberobello, a town that was called the "Trulli Village" by many of our friends who visited there when we lived 190 miles away in Naples.
A local guide led us for a couple hours among the unique trulli houses with their cone-shaped stone roofs. Except for a brief, light rain, it was a pleasurable walk.
After a quick light lunch we traveled to Matera. We were in our rooms at the Sant'Angelo Luxury Hotel around 3:30. At 4 o'clock the two of us climbed about a hundred steps with Mark Story. We stopped for gelato when we reached the top.
Mark left us at the cathedral where we paid a quick visit inside. Admission cost €4 each. We were a bit surprised that we two found our way back to our hotel room without making a wrong turn onto any of the intersecting stairways.
Our group met for refreshments on a hotel terrace at 5:30. At 7:30 most of us climbed the stairway to Ristorante La Gattabuia (which translates as "the dark cat restaurant"). Three of our folks rode in a taxi to the restaurant. After our meal, everyone walked down the dimly lit stairs to return to our rooms about 10:30.
DAY 6
Wednesday, 16 September 2026
It was 63°F when we went to breakfast in the hotel at 8 a.m. At 9:30 our group began a 2-hour walking tour of Matera with a local guide who was born there. The dwellings and churches in this fascinating ancient city were once manmade caves carved into the hillside. Our hotel room was one of those caves that is still being used today.
Matera, with its ancient cave houses and rugged limestone cliffs, has been used in several movies for biblical landscapes, historical scenes, and dramatic action backdrops. It's most notable inclusion was in 2004 in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." The crucifixion scene was on a mountaintop across the valley from our hotel. The 2021 James Bond movie, "No Time to Die," transformed the historic piazzas and winding staircases into a stunning backdrop for high-speed Aston Martin car chases, motorcycle stunts, and dramatic romantic scenes.
We stopped to look inside Santa Lucia alle Malve church. It was carved out of the hillside stone in the 9th century. It was evident that the original style was Greek Orthodox then repurposed as Roman Catholic. One of its unique features is that people were never buried beneath the church, but had been buried above the church. The cave is now used as a place of worship only when the feast day of Santa Lucia is celebrated on 13 December.
We also stopped to investigate an ancient house cave dwelling site called Casa Grotta del Vicinato. It was meticulously decorated with everything one would find when it had been occupied, including replicas of a donkey and chickens kept inside the home.
Temperature was in the 70s but felt much hotter when we were often walking in the sunshine. The walking tour concluded at 11:30 in the Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the heart of modern Matera. We enjoyed a light lunch with the Walkers and Crews. Michael returned to the hotel about 1:00 with Gilbert and the Crews. Jeannie and Linda remained on top of the hill to shop, returning to the hotel about 3 p.m.
At 6 p.m. we joined the Crews and Walkers for a one-hour tuk-tuk ride around Matera. We squeezed three people into the backseat of each vehicle.
Upon return to our hotel, the six of us walked to a nearby trattoria where we enjoyed our evening meal together. We were back in our rooms by 8:30.
DAY 7
Thursday, 17 September 2026
We departed our hotel in Matera at 10:00 a.m. We arrived before our rooms were ready in Lecce at Patria Palace Hotel about 1:30. About 2 o'clock the group ate lunch in the courtyard of Ristorante Giardino Segreto (which translates as "secret garden restaurant"). On our walk back to the hotel we stopped for gelato about 3:30, then viewed the excavation site of a Roman amphitheater. We began settling into our hotel room about 4:30.
We met our tour group in the hotel lobby at 7:15, then walked past the amphitheater to Il Ristoro dei Templari (which translated means "The Refreshment of the Templars") for our evening meal together in Lecce. We were back in our room shortly after 10 o'clock.
DAY 8
Friday, 18 September 2026
We went to breakfast in the hotel at 8 a.m. We were amazed and delighted that a violinist was playing throughout our time in the large breakfast room.
We spent 9:30 to 12:45 walking with a local guide to several sights, beginning in the Piazza Sant'Oronzo beside the ancient amphitheater. Here we saw the Sedile and the adjoining Church of San Marco. We visited inside Lecce Cathedral, including the underground crypt. While inside the Basilica di Santa Croce, the last stop on our tour, it began to rain. We were all glad it was just a block to walk back to our hotel.
It was barely sprinkling when we began searching for a restaurant for lunch. We were glad we chose to eat indoors when a downpour began with lots of wind and loud thunder. The rain completely stopped shortly after we finished our meal.
Around 3 o'clock, Jeannie left with Linda, Leah, and Teresa to shop. Michael went searching for gelato.
At 7 o'clock we walked a few blocks with Mark and Roxi Crews to a trattoria for supper and conversation. We were back at the hotel around 9 o'clock.
DAY 9
Saturday, 19 September 2026
Shortly after sitting for breakfast in the hotel, a harpist began playing at 8:00.
Leaving the hotel about 10 o'clock, Mark Story drove Leah, Teresa, Michael, and Jeannie to Otranto. The Crews and Walkers chose to remain in Lecce for a quieter experience. We arrived in Otranto in the heel of the boot of southeast Italy on the Adriatic Sea about 11 o'clock. We first walked around inside the Aragonese Castle, built in the 15th century at the edge of the Adriatic Sea. Sometimes one can see Albania from the top of the castle, but it was too hazy across the sea when we were there.
Next we visited the Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata, where we saw the bones of the "martyrs of Otranto" who were massacred by Ottoman invaders in 1480. We stopped for insalata caprese and pizza Margarita con prosciutto crudo for lunch at Trattoria Pizzeria La Caletta, overlooking the sea. Then there was some time for shopping before a brief stop for gelato.
Soon after 2 o'clock we left Otranto and traveled 6 kilometers north to Baia dei Turchi (Turkey Bay). It was on this beach that the Ottoman Turks invaded in 1480. Shortly before 4 o'clock, we began the drive back to Lecce. We were back in our room about 5 o'clock.
At 6:30 p.m. we walked with everyone to La Cucina di Mamma Elvira for our final evening meal together with the group. We began walking back to the hotel about 9 o'clock, in time to pack for departure the following morning.
DAY 10
Sunday, 20 September 2026
Our driver arrived at our hotel on time at 6:20 a.m. The Crews, Walkers, and we were at the Lecce train station 15 minutes later. As expected, getting our luggage onto the train was a bit challenging. After departure at exactly 7:07 as scheduled, we were served a complimentary drink and snack at our business class seats. We often had a view of the Adriatic Sea until we began heading west over and through the Apennine Mountains. We noticed this fast train's maximum speed was about 180 miles per hour.
Our train arrived about 1 p.m. at Roma Termini, the main train station in Rome. From there we walked, pulling our luggage the few blocks to the Best Western Plus Hotel Universo. We were immediately able to check in. By 2 p.m. we six were heading to lunch a few blocks away. We had a delicious meal at L'Angolo di Napoli, the restaurant we chose because it had the Vera Pizza Napoletana certification.
We rode the Metro subway to the Spanish Steps, but from underground we could not locate the best exit. We disappointedly came out an 18-minute walk from where we wanted to be. Our path took us to the top of the 135 steps about 4 o'clock. After descending the Spanish Steps (that were built by the French in the 1720s), we sat to rest outdoors at a restaurant where we enjoyed gelato.
The Crews decided to return to the hotel to rest. We continued walking on with the Walkers. We stopped briefly at Trevi Fountain around 5:30. We were outside the Pantheon about 6 o'clock. We walked through Piazza Navona on our way to supper.
At 6:45 we arrived for our 7:00 reservation at Ristorante Pancrazio dal 1922. We ate at an outside table. We were disappointed that the downstairs dining area was full. The basement of this restaurant contains remains of the Theatre of Pompey, near the site where Julius Caesar was assassinated. We spent a few minutes there after finishing our meals.
About 8 o'clock we located a taxi to return us to our hotel. After getting lost, the cab driver eventually got us to our hotel about 8:30.
DAY 11
Monday, 21 September 2026
After breakfast we began walking at 7:45 to the nearby train station. After entering the station it was a very long walk to find our train, which departed on time at 8:20 a.m
We arrived at the Orvieto train station about 10:30. We felt very fortunate to immediately find a taxi for all six of us. We reached the Piazza Duomo with plenty of time to spare. If we had arrived after 11:00, we would have lost our reserved tickets. We enjoyed a guided tour into the fascinating Orvieto Underground man-made caves from 11:15 to 12:15.
Next we spent about half an hour exploring inside the Orvieto Duomo.
We found an out-of-the-way trattoria for lunch. Then we walked to Piazza Cahen, stopping for gelato along the way. We were on a bus back to the Orvieto train station at 2:45. Our train to Rome left the station about 3:30 p.m. and arrived at Roma Termini about 5 o'clock.
We walked to our hotel, then walked back to the train station at 6:30 to enjoy our evening meal at Eataly. With lots of nice shops at the train station, we left the terminal when they closed at 9 o'clock.
DAY 12
Tuesday, 22 September 2026
We six left the hotel at 8:20 and walked to the train station. Our train was easy to find, but arrived and left just a bit late. We arrived in Tivoli around 10:30. There were no taxis at the train station. We walked across the footbridge over the Aniene River into town. We eventually boarded a bus that would take us in the right direction.
We had several blocks to walk to Hadrian's Villa after getting off the bus. We only stayed about an hour. We left on another bus which required tickets different from what we had purchased earlier. This bus took us within a few blocks of where we wanted to be next.
After eating lunch, we walked just a couple blocks to Villa D'Este. We enjoyed the many fountains in the gardens there for about an hour. Not finding a taxi or bus, we decided to walk the three-fourths mile to the train station. Our phones showed that we walked 5.8 miles total on this day.
It would have been much more fun if Tivoli was more "tourist friendly." We were frequently crossing paths with equally confused tourists about how to get from place to place. The bus drivers told us we were choosing the right buses, yet they had us get off far from where we were going.
We were back in Rome around 4:30 and couples went their separate ways. The two of us got some gelato on our way to the hotel. Just the two of us went back to the nearby Vera Pizza Napoletana certified restaurant for supper.
DAY 13
23 September 2026
At 6:45 we went to breakfast in the hotel. There we began meeting the folks in the tour group that had arrived from Athens, Greece, the previous afternoon. There were 20 people remaining from the group of 34 who had been on Acappella Praise and Harmony's "Footsteps of Paul" tour. Their visit in Rome was part of an optional post-tour extension that the Crews, Walkers, and Coles were fortunate to join.
Everyone met in the hotel lobby at 7:40, then walked a couple blocks to a bus. It being a Praise and Harmony tour, of course Keith Lancaster led our group in a few songs on the tour bus. There was plenty of sunshine with temperature starting in the upper 50s. By 8:30 we were at the Roman Colosseum where we divided into two groups, each with a tour guide. From 10:30 to 11:30 our guide shared details as we walked through the nearby ancient Roman Forum.
By 12:15 we were all back at the hotel. At 12:30 Michael and Jeannie left with Keith and Sharon Lancaster. We walked to L'Angolo di Napoli, the Vera Pizza Napoletana certified restaurant, for lunch. After the meal we stopped at a gelateria to enjoy gelato, then walked to a nearby pharmacy to help find an item needed by the Lancasters. We were back at the hotel at 3 o'clock and rested the remainder of the afternoon.
We went to supper with the Crews and Walkers about 6:45 at a restaurant about a half block from the hotel. We were back in our rooms before 8:30.
DAY 14
Thursday, 24 September 2026
Our group of 26 left the hotel 9:00 a.m. to board a tour bus. Again we enjoyed singing songs together with Keith leading. We arrived at the Vatican Museums about 9:45 for our guided tour which lasted till shortly after noon. The guide left us on our own when we were nearing the Sistine Chapel. It was around 1:00 before we found our way out.
We then walked to Saint Peter's Square. We were disappointed that the line into the cathedral was too long for us to enter before time to leave. We found a nearby restaurant for lunch at 1:45.
Fourteen of us boarded a tour bus at 3 o'clock. Twelve other people in our group had already found alternate transportation. The bus trip took about 30 minutes back to our hotel.
At 4 o'clock nine of us walked a couple blocks to one of Rome's best gelaterias, Il Capriccio di Carla. We all ate gelato sitting and having fun together in nearby Piazza del Viminale till about 5 o'clock. We were back in our hotel a few minutes later.
With a 6:30 reservation we walked a couple blocks to eat at Maestro Bistro with the Crews and Walkers.
DAY 15
Friday, 25 September 2026
We were up at 3 a.m. and in a taxi with the Walkers shortly before 4 a.m. (Mark and Roxi remained in Rome several more days.) The ride to the airport in Rome took a bit more than a half hour. Check in with Iberia, the airline of Spain, went smoothly. The security clearance line was not crowded so early in the morning. Our plane was off the ground about 7:40 a.m. Breakfast was served soon after takeoff.
| 
