Castel del Monte via Barletta

Left Mattinata this morning and followed the coastal road which quickly became rough and bone shakingly bumpy. The terrain was very flat and marshy and we passed through Margherita di Savoie – the city of salt. We weren’t entirely sure why we were heading to the city of Barletta, especially once we started passing tower blocks and a massive cement factory. We think, maybe the nice Italian chap was saying go ‘via’ Barletta! We managed to park and decided to look for a bread shop in the old part of town. It was heaving with people – absolute madness. We then found out it was Liberation Day – a public holiday! Rufus was mega tired and at one point we didn’t think he’d make it back to the motorhome. After stopping at Lidl for provisions, we made our way to Castel del Monte to see an interesting 8 sided castle. Once again, there were people absolutely everywhere….like Lincoln Christmas Market! No parking nearby so we ended up in a field with about a hundred families with picnic blankets, tables, chairs, music, footballs, pushchairs- we decided if you can’t beat em ……so we got the chairs out and had a glass of wine! Walked up to the castle later leaving Rufus in the van once it had cooled down. Big disappointment – not very exciting considering it’s on the back of a one cent coin. Now parked in another field which is a proper camper stop and have been given advice from about ten Italians(all at once!) on which route to take next. Let’s hope we’ve understood this time. 😂