Ciao from Puglia

[Katt B]

Another SlowTalk person here ... so glad to see that many SlowTalkers are also SlowEuropeans! I relied heavily on recommendations from SlowTalk when deciding where to travel. I also used to frequent ExpatsInItaly, a SlowTalk spinoff. I was crushed when that site went down ... I probably couldn't have made the move to Italy without the invaluable advice from that site. Any former ExpatsInItaly-ians here?

My spouse and I retired to Puglia from Portland, Oregon six years ago. We love life in small-town southern Italy, and we take advantage of living in this part of the world for frequent travel through Europe. Upcoming trips: Torino, Tallinn, Helsinki, Taormina, and Crete.

Looking forward to giving and getting more great travel advice on SlowEurope.

KattB

 

[PokeyMindy]

Hi Katt, ahhhhh Puglia.....I was lucky to visit the area in May 2013. It really is a gorgeous region! I loved Lecce and Martina Franca.

Not sure if Cristina Fassio is onboard here...she had the Expats site. I'm excited that I'll be seeing her this Sept. when I am in Siena for 1 week.

Mindy

 

[Pauline]

I thought the expats site was down for awhile but then was up again. Sorry to see it go!

 

[Katt B]

Hi Katt, ahhhhh Puglia.....I was lucky to visit the area in May 2013. It really is a gorgeous region! I loved Lecce and Martina Franca.
Mindy

Mindy, I'm glad you enjoyed Martina Franca ... that's where I live! It is a lovely town. Tourists to this part of Puglia tend to focus more on Ostuni or Alberobello, perhaps because Martina Franca doesn't have any big "sights". But as you know, it has a beautiful baroque centro storico, great restaurants and bars, a lively passeggiata in summer, and an excellent opera festival every July.

Maybe I'm a little biased ....

 

[Pauline]

We stayed in Ostuni but when visiting the other towns decided next time we would stay in Martina Franca. What a lovely town!

 

[Andrew]

I thought the expats site was down for awhile but then was up again. Sorry to see it go!

I knew that I'd gotten an email recently that it was back. I found it from Jan. 3, hadn't followed the link then, now I have. Someone else has taken over the domain www.expatsinitaly.com . It seems that joining their discussion group requires a Google Plus membership, which I'm reluctant to get. On first look, the layout is confusing, and they have links to Wayback Machine articles from the old site.

 

[Pauline]

I joined the Google Group by mistake and could not really understand what was going on there. Cristina joined these forums ages ago but has not posted. I will start a new thread to see if we can find out what happened.

 

[PokeyMindy]

I joined the Google Group by mistake and could not really understand what was going on there. Cristina joined these forums ages ago but has not posted. I will start a new thread to see if we can find out what happened.

there was some discussion of FB...evidently that site was ?sold???? and the new manager is not on the up and up...I'll ask Cristina to look at your new thread and hopefully let people know the scoop!

**edited to add**...I sent Cristina a message letting her know about the inquiry. She's just returned home after a trip up to Northern Italy but said she will check out the new thread that Pauline started. Hopefully she will let everyone know what happened!

 

[Roz]

Mindy, I'm glad you enjoyed Martina Franca ... that's where I live! It is a lovely town. Tourists to this part of Puglia tend to focus more on Ostuni or Alberobello, perhaps because Martina Franca doesn't have any big "sights". But as you know, it has a beautiful baroque centro storico, great restaurants and bars, a lively passeggiata in summer, and an excellent opera festival every July.

Maybe I'm a little biased ....

Thanks for bringing back memories of Martina Franca -- we had a wonderful lunch there several years ago when traveling through Puglia. That was in the days before everyone could get on the Internet from cell phones, and at the restaurant we asked about the best way to find an Internet point. The waitresses then got into such a typical heated Italian discussion about which was the best route -- one of those things where you would swear they were about to come to blows, but ended up with everyone smiling. I love this photo I took of that moment.