Our first post-lockdown visit to Puglia. Thankfully the builders have been putting in the hours and made some good progress. In particular we now have some doors from the main house into the bedroom and french doors from the new bedroom to the outside. These really bring it all together and start to make it look more like a new build that just requires a few finishing touches rather than a half finished project.
At the top of this post we can now see what looks like a proper building that just needs a good paint job. We are having a little debate as to whether we remove the sills from above the windows or build a new one above the new door. The former might make it look a little plain and blocky. The latter might look a bit odd if they don’t quite match up. The decision is still to be made.
The picture on the right here shows the view from the new bedroom and it’s really stunning. This part of the build has come together really well. Fingers crossed when we eventually get permission through to begin work on the pool, it will be just a short walk across the paving from this room which will make a really nice feature.
We also now have a functioning barbecue. There are a few bathroom fittings to be added in this area and a door or two missing but it just remains to put the bamboo roof on. But we have road tested the barbecue while we’ve been here and it works a treat.
The great news is that Puglia got through the first wave of Covid 19 with a relatively low infection rate so restaurants, cafes and bars all seem to be open again. Naturally, the climate here really helps because you can sit outside most of the time. There is noticeable shortage of American, Chinese and Japanese visitors who would normally help to swell the numbers in Alberobello in particular. That will no doubt have hurt the tourism industry this summer but, like the UK, there are Italian nationals enjoying staycations in their own country which is nice to see.
We hope and pray that the passage of travel is upward from here on.