Monopoli's Old Town - Pretty as a Picture, Monopoli, Italy

It was thrilling to stay in an apartment in the old town of Monopoli, Puglia and to take part in the daily dramas. One day, from our windows, we watched a small lorry, only six inches narrower than the street, take thirty minutes to reverse down it, accompanied by a lot of sighing and shaking of heads and some well meant but hardly practical advice. Once the show was over I skipped down two flights of narrow steps to ground level, placed my plastic bag of rubbish on the door step and then made my way through the alleyways that opened out in Piazza Garibaldi. My daily breakfast (included) was a coffee and a croissant at the Premiato Caffè Venezia. The square was quiet and I found a table outside where I could watch the town slowly come to life.

That day there was an unusual amount of activity for the hour - people were arriving with flags and banners. I moved on and was delighted to encounter the local band parading through the streets and after one wrong turn followed by a long discussion of the right way to proceed I found myself back in the square I had just left but now it was full of protesters and the band was stationary once more.

As always I felt a frisson of pleasure as I stepped out of the square and onto the old port. Little blue fishing boats bobbed on the water, the oars of rowers from the local club slapped the water rhythmically and round the corner the whirr of cranes unloading commercial cargoes blended with the crash of waves on the rocky shore. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).