An italian holiday

Hi to everybody,
I’ve just came back from my holiday in [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apulia"]Apulia[/ame] (an italian region of the deep south), it was a fantastic experience and I decided to share some pics and impressions with you.
I’m Italian and an holiday like this would be normal, but Apulia is very far from where I live and going there by car is not so simple.
It was a very long journey for me (1967 miles) and a good test for my Prius.
I remember what my colleagues said before:”You are crazy… a journey so long with your strange car… It will run out!”.
I had no problems driving everywhere with 4 people on board and the trunk (not only that) completely full of luggage, with temperature between 63 and 105°F under the sun and the rain.
The average consumption of all the journey was about 46 MPG (US gallon) with tyres inflated up to 43 PSI (fuel price = 1.65 Euro/liter = 8.8 dollars/US gallon…how many Prius do we need in Italy?), 80% of the way was on highway at almost 70-80 miles/hour, the rest in various conditions.
I normally get a better consumption (50 MPG) but with less load and speed, in city or suburban.
I started from where I live (in northern Italy near the south-east end of Como lake [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecco"]Como lake[/ame]) and drove to the first stage inS. Giovanni rotondo [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padre_Pio_Pilgrimage_Church"]S. Giovanni Rotondo[/ame] (in the north of Apulia) to visit the church and all the places where S. Padre Pio lived (the famous monk got recently saint).
One night there and then I went to second stage in Conversano (middle north of Apulia) in a farm-house very nice called “Casina dei preti” ( Small house of priests) a pleasant place lost in a forest of olive trees, cherry trees and almond trees. We stayed there a week making some visits to the nicest places all around: the Castel del monte (the famous castle printed on the one euro cent coins), the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellana_Caves"]Castellana caves[/ame], the city of [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostuni"]Ostuni[/ame], the nice country of [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberobello"]Alberobello[/ame], the famous country [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matera"]Matera[/ame] with its old part made of old houses partially excavate in the rock and all the small countries all around.
Every evening we had dinner with typical Apulia foods: The “[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orecchiette"]orecchiette[/ame]” (typical pasta), the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrata"]burrata[/ame] (a very good cheese), and a lot of other foods very good.
Probably it’s hard to understand what a big big difference can be found between the north and the south of Italy, you cannot imagine, something like the difference between Canada and California.
Then we took the car and gone to the south for a relaxing week at the seaside: Ugento, a small country between Gallipoli and S.Maria di Leuca.
There we found a clear sea with a sand almost white.
Sun, sea, relax, good food and enjoyment broken just a pair of times to visit Gallipoli (nice) and [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_di_Leuca"]S.Maria di Leuca[/ame] (the end of the lands: “finis terrae” was the old roman name).
A curiosity: the people of Gallipoli, expecially shop owners, are with: light blue eyes, white skin, blonde and red hair and faces just like the people of the north of Europe.
I read on the Apulia guide book that Gallipoli was a big centre of commerce in the old centuries, they sold olive oil for the lamps of London and Paris... I think that French and English ancient traders was probably very busy during the night.
The second week passed quickly and during the back home journey we stopped for a day at the sanctuary of Loreto (nice place) to visit the great church and to thank God for the nice holiday.
The next day we came back home.
Always sorry for my English,
Alberto... from Italy.