Most Inspirational Moment
Can't say there was an "inspirational moment" as such, but every bit was enjoyable and glad I did this trip. I would thoroughly recommend it.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Excellent, as you would expect.
Advice for Potential Travellers
You don't have to do the suggested group meals in the evening and there are other alternatives on the free day (Tuesday) at Alberobello besides the suggested places to visit. Alternatives included visiting towns closer by (like Locorotondo or Martina Franca), going further afield to Monopoli or the caves (as per the tour notes, or just spend the day in Alberobello. The wine tasting (which included a museum and presentation) was good (excellent wine) and a light meal was included with it. Whilst Alberobello is pretty, it is very tourist and I would recommend looking at it first think in the morning or after the shops have shut when it is a lot quieter... especially on the way to the breakfast restaurnt. You see Alberobello at its best, beautiful and tranquil, not bustling with people. Some of the shops have panorama terraces on their roof too, and besides the viewing balcony mentioned in the guide books, there is also a garden that has good views of the Monte Rione district too. None of the hotels have hotels so the only option of swimming is at the beaches of the towns visited briefly (Polignano a Mare and Otranto), but there was a pool at one place guests could use staying in designated trulli houses from company Exodus use. The trulli houses for Exodus guests were scattered at various places all over the town so no one was next to or close to each other, and breakfast was a a central restaurant in town. Regarding Ostuni and the masserias, Exodus had taken on board the feedback on the reviews of former customers on their website and had arranged taxi (at no extra cost to the customer) back to Ostuni for those who didn't want to do (or couldn't manage) the 6 km walk to the town, which is well worth noting. Even if you can manage the 6 km walk, one thing you need to consider (apart from the hthiseat), is that time in Ostuni is limited to just the rest of the day and evening as we moved on the following morning. We left the second masseria about 2.30 (after lunch); the taxi journey is about 10 minutes to Ostuni; the walk was around 2 hrs, so you need to weigh up valuable usage of the time as whilst part of the group did the walk, the others of us who took a taxi spent time in a lovely gelateria and walked around the town walls viewing the countryside... after checking in at the hotel and our rooms too. T There are plenty of local produce food shops everywhere, especially local producers of olive oil in Ostuni, so don't feel you have to buy it at the masseria visited in the Ostuni countryside (although you can, it was very nice) and the prices in those shops in Ostuni weren't any different. Puglian olive oil is very good, and there are a lot of olive groves around the area. The cookery lesson at the masseria near Ostuni wasn't as I had expected; due to Covid we couldn't really do much! The Sassi districts of Matera are stunning and it is very difficult to stop walking around them and taking in the views. The views from the hotel used is spectacular. We felt rushed to get to the cathedral in Otranto when arriving there, as we were late leaving the Osuni that morning (the luggage was late leaving the hotel). Otherwise the whole tour itself wasn't rushed. There were two guided city walks (Matera and Lecce),otherwise the tour leader gave brief orientation walks of the towns on arrival most of the time. In Lecce there are plenty of museums, but I (and a couple of others) visited the Museum Faggiano) which was fascinating and apart from the excavations and exhibits, etc, had a fascinating story behind it of how it came to be, which made it all the more interesting. It's a small museum not far away from the city gate you enter the city by, from the walk from the Eos Hotel to the city centre. Finally, electric plugs and sockets - I took a European plug adaptor, which unfortunately didn't work in a lot of sockets in the hotels and trulli house (and others in the group found the same). Whilst it did work in most bathroom sockets, there were no sockets it fitted at the Hotel Eos. However the hotel Eos were very helpful and lent be a plug I could use to charge my mobile phone (which I used as a camera throughout the holiday). I would suggest bringing a multi-country adaptor, or several adaptors. Their sockets are 3-pin that take the smaller rounder pins; although the two pins will work, the thicker two pins won't work. You don't need to bring a hairdryer with you, everywhere we stayed at had them.
