Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Imagine

This beautiful morning . . .

opening your eyes upon the warm sun-drenched landscape of Puglia, which seems just like tasting paradise. It is serene this day, not many cars or motorbikes filling the streets yet. The people are just getting up to work, or to do their daily marketing . . . from shop to shop. My favorite smells . . . the clean air, the fresh produce, the wildflowers growing randomly in any unused space, are circulating around me. There is an energy which is unique to this place, lively, yet not stressful . . . busy with the "everyday", but not chaotic. If I could possibly guess, nothing bigger than a Jeep Cherokee or a similar-sized vehicle can make it's way through these narrow, ancient streets . . . surely not an Escalade nor a Suburban. The layout of this most historic part of town is reminiscent of the catacombs, I would imagine . . . with turning, winding paths, and not so random at all. It was afterall, designed in medieval times, when the pattern coincided with a purpose . . safety, usefulness, around a center feature which was to be protected, serving as a "hub" of all activity back then. The streets themselves are charming, made from cobbled stone, bumpy when driven on, but charming nonetheless. In this old part, many people are walking, as nothing is far away at all . . . in fact the whole town can be navigated with relative ease in very little time. As I said, it is all designed in a pattern, which still persists to this day. Learning the locations of pertinent shops and stops is not so hard for the visitor . . . knowing every street, every nook and cranny, every tiny surface in this town is routine for a lifetime resident. The pathways carved through the ancient and newer portions of Ruvo di Puglia are familiar to me as well. I've explored them thoroughly now, in the three prior trips I have made to this small, yet utterly beautiful place. My favorite cheese shop, my preferred fruit vendor, the little stand where I find the best selection of specialty items . . . the supermercato nearby the B & B where I stay . . . all familiar, all comfortable, all just like home to me. The old and the new are randomly intermingled here, some buildings remain from the 1500's . . . and right outside town lies the cemetary housing everyone from the very beginning of Ruvo. It excites me to know that life has coexisted here with so many memories for centuries . . . evolving, changing, altering a bit, but yet consistently the same. It is magical . . .

Ruvo di Puglia is magical, this region of Puglia itself exudes its charming power over me . . . in a few more weeks, I will be able to share some more of the beauty from this region I adore! Have an amazing new day . . . Cheryl

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