Packing, and getting out, it was just that easy. In recent weeks we have used every free minute to pack furniture and household goods and to place them in the garage. The first forty-foot container goes to Puglia. At least that is the plan. Such a container could perfectly serve as a swimming pool or storage or even a unit where you can relax or even live. For a few thousand euros you can buy an old sea container, but when we started to plan the route, it turned out that the container could not be placed on our site. The roads in the Valle d'Itria become too narrow if you live a bit outside. The container thus becomes a trailer and we have found a driver who wants to drive the trailer to Puglia. He has already arranged a nice load for the way back in the port city of Brindisi, so he is not going home empty.

We have decided to drive our Alfa spider to Italy ourselves. We set aside three days for the 1,800 km from Maastricht to Puglia. If all goes well, we arrive one day before the truck arrives in Ceglie Messapica. We make a virtue out of necessity and plan a three-day culinary journey like Ilja Gortdat would, but then in a Japanese style pace.

The gateway to the Italian lakes and Milan
The first stop is the French Colmar in Alsace; this region is a bit French and a little German. Colorful half-timbered houses and special wines with rich regional dishes make this a wonderful base to pass through the 17-kilometer Gotthard tunnel the next morning without traffic jams. The Gotthard is the gateway to Lugano, the Italian lakes and Milan. The truck with our household goods will travel via Austria, because the paperwork in Switzerland can cause major delays. We therefore see large rows of trucks in front of the Swiss border that we pass effortlessly.

The weather is beautiful, we have opened the roof of the now twenty-year-old spider who finds it strikingly nice here towards the Italian border. Suddenly we end up in a traffic jam and when the mercury rises to 35 degrees, the temperature of the car engine also rises steadily. After an exciting hour on the last Swiss ridge, the traffic jam dissolves and we head for Bologna. What we enjoy this car ride. We can go to Puglia in two days. It seems to be 42 degrees.

Polpette food in Bologna
Stop two is Bologna. This university city has a unique appearance with the forty kilometers of covered galleries, the arcades. Bologna is called wella grassa, the fat one. We had already learned that word in Martina Franca. You can indeed have great food here, and you don't have to limit yourself to pasta Bolognese. We threw a ball at Ristorante Bolpetta. We will never forget the polpette spinach - gorgonzola or the balls with carrot - ginger.

Trabocco
The next day we drive more than 600 kilometers in a straight line towards Bari. The autostrada Adriatica A14 follows almost the Adriatic coast. A shame for the landscape, but today it is nice to drive on. The quality of the highway is excellent. We have lunch in the neighborhood of Pescara, San Vieto Chietino, in an authentic trabocco. On such a fishing platform on wooden posts on the Costa dei Trabocchieet you naturally have super fresh fish. Such a trabocco is a fishing installation that is entirely made of pine wood with sometimes antennas as long as 50 meters and was used for centuries to brave the rugged coast. Some are still used as a fishing installation with its meters-long nets, others again as a lookout post or restaurant, but also as a home.

From Pescara to Bari it is another three hours' drive. Certainly around Foggia the landscape is flat and monotonous. There is a large reception center in Foggia, but in the area between Foggia in northern Puglia and Bari, around 300,000 refugees, mostly Africans, have ended up in anonymity. Sometimes they work in agriculture, often for a very low salary. Italy has to deal with an unprecedented and continuing stream of refugees. The refugee camps look like ghettos. The migrants are often called invisible, but are now indispensable for local agriculture and construction.

When we have passed Bari, we close the roof of the car. The Mediterranean sun can also be a bit too much, slowly we almost fell asleep with that sun in our faces for hours.

Unload the truck
Nauna note in biancovan of the excitement we hear in the distance the horn of the semi-trailer of Roncker's transport from Central Limburg. It is three o'clock in the afternoon.Ceglie Messapicahoudt siesta, there is nobody on the street. Because we cannot unload at the trullo house, we have rented a retail space in the center of Ceglie through our friend Gianfranco. Now it appears to be quite an art to maneuver through the shopping streets with the truck and trailer. By occasionally putting the traffic rules in your hand, we manage to park the huge truck in front of the store. And with the help of Italian friends and drivers, the trailer becomes empty before the village wakes up again. Not an easy job because we also brought all the stone Buddha statues for the garden of our future B&B Yours Trulli in Martina Franca.

Buono a tutti, we go swimming with the crew at Gianfranco's masseria Genovese. Tonight we introduce the drivers to Southern Italian cuisine. Due due piccioni con una fava, we are happy to promote Puglia with all its colors, scents and fifty million olive trees. An introduction is enough