Reunion in Italy

We were scheduled to meet up with the Doughty family at a bed & breakfast in Corato, Italy for supper Tuesday evening.  Between the tourist maps from the Bari airport, road signs, and finally a visit to the local police station for directions, we made our rendezvous with the group.  

A quick word of explanation about this family reunion for those who don't know the story --- My mom's first cousin, Belva, was raised by my grandparents when her mother died and her father couldn't care for her, so she's more like another sister / aunt in the family.  I actually lived with Belva and her husband, Paul, in Oelwein for a while before I found an apartment, way back when I started my first teaching job at Wapsie Valley of Fairbank.  Their seven kids are spread all over the world - Hawaii, New York, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, and one who married an Italian and has raised her family in Italy.  So, they love to get together for reunions in fun places periodically.  Puglia was the destination this time, and since they knew we were already in Europe, we were fortunate enough to be invited to the party!!  Lucky us!!   :-)  

The redheads - Tim, Mary Ellen and Beth!!  :-)  We all met at the hotel, then went to have a pre-dinner glass of Italian wine at a little bar. 

Maurine, Aaron, Margaret, Beth, and Judy.  There was a hot Euchre game down at that end of the table, Margaret was commenting that Beth isn't ugly like everyone had told her.  LOL!!  

All of a sudden during dinner, there was a huge ruckus down the street, so we ran down to check out this parade with throngs of people.  It was a day to honor the patron saint of a local church, whose statue was carried down the street.  

Next was a big marching band playing lively tunes.

And finally, there were fireworks, being shot off directly above this enormous crowd of people!  Crazy!!  

The fireworks actually were really good, and it made us not so sad that we missed Ankeny's Summerfest and the 4th of July back in Iowa!   :-)  

Good times watching the fireworks in Corato!

This is the cute light and sign outside the quaint little restaurant where we had dinner.  We all ate outside on the patio, and everything was delicious.  We started out with antipasto dishes that were amazing, then had pasta - mmmmm!!  

The Doughty twins, Maurine and Margaret.  Let's just say, they haven't totally 'grown up' -- we love it that they will always be kids at heart!!  :-)   And that's Don behind them.   

The bed and breakfast that Anna Tambini arranged for all of us was wonderful.

The whole gang after breakfast in Corato.  What a fun group!!   :-)
Front row:  Don, Jack, Judy, Devon
Second row:  Margaret, Aaron, Mary Ellen, Carlo, Micki, Beth, Sara, Irena
Back row:  Tim, Michelle, Maurine, Anna
(More came later after we got to our final destination.)

After breakfast we all headed to a famous and unique castle nearby.  Castel del Monte was build in the 13th century by Emperor Frederick II, and it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  

Sara and Beth in front of Castel del Monte.  

We had a really great tour guide who explained all the history of the castle, just for our group.  

This castle is unique in that it was not build for defensive purposes, nor to live in, but rather as a place of knowledge and study.  

The inner courtyard of the castle.

Exploring the castle on our tour.  

Carlo, Don, and Devin looking out the castle windows. 

Julio and Jack in the statue niches in the wall.   :-)

Devon on the castle tour.   :-)

The views of the Italian countryside from the Castel del Monte, high up on the hill.

After the castle tour, we went for lunch at a little countryside restaurant that had a sort of petting zoo out in the stone barn.  

At the restaurant, with the Castle in the background.
Front row:  Micki, Aaron, Margaret
Back row:  Don, Beth, Mary Ellen, Tim, Devon

The barn where the kids were feeding the goats and ducks.  

 After that, we all headed to Punta Prosciutto, where we were staying at a rented villa, which had several houses on the property adjacent to the beach.  

The pathway down to the beach from the Villa where we stayed.  

Don and Tim heading back from the beach - it was so pretty!!  

Lovin' the beach!!  On this side of the peninsula, the shore was rocky, which provided great snorkeling for the kids.  

Sunset off Punta Prosciutto.  (Basic translation = Ham Point because the peninsula is shaped like a ham!) 

Villa La Tonnara is where we all stayed.  This wall completely enclosed the property, and there were electric gates to drive inside.  

The kids found lots of fun critters in the rocks when the tide went out - fish, crabs, snails, and even octopus were caught by the snorkelers.
(Aaron, Devon, and then Judy on the far right.)  

The second day we decided to check out the beach on the other side, and we were thrilled to discover this beautiful and popular white sand beach.
(Beth, Maurine, Mary Ellen, Micki)

This beach was only about a 2-block walk, so we were fortunate to have beautiful beaches in both directions.  

The beach crew -  Mary Ellen, Beth, Tim, Margaret and Maurine.  Honestly, Margaret really did have a good time, despite her decision to NOT smile in this picture!!   :-)

The water was shallow for a long way out, the sand was fine and white, and it was perfect weather for our time at the beach.  

Margaret, Maurine, Beth, Mary Ellen, Anna, and Julio taking a walk down the shoreline.  

Maurine is the world's best bargainer, and we heard stories about her expertise gained on several continents.  She put her skills to good use getting beach cover-ups and dresses for a great price from this salesman.  

Our favorite beach cover-up salesman again with Sara, Micki, Anna, and Michelle.  

There were many vendors selling their wares right along the beach - it was fun to see!  

Beth and Maurine in their stylish new dresses when we went out to dinner at a restaurant right around the corner from the villa.  

Our antipasto course included fresh mussels in the shell.  

Pizza or pasta were the menu choices for most everyone at this casual restaurant.  It was a relaxed, family atmosphere - lots of fun!!
Left side:  Tim, Judy, Maurine, Micki, Anna, Aaron, Carlo
Sara at the head of the table
Right side:  Devon, Don, Margaret, Beth

The pizzas were made in this wood-fired oven, and they were delicious!!  

It was karaoke night, so all the family got up and did "YMCA" as a group!  FUN!!!
Left to right:  Irena (then two people I don't know), Michelle, Beth, Margaret out front, Aaron, Sara, Julio, Don, Carlo, Anna, and Devon.
The American-Italian family was a big hit.    :-)

Afterwards, some Italian singers came up and had us sing together with them a song they chose --- The Beatles' "Imagine"  ---  which was really cool because of the lyrics.  

Heading out to the beach again with the twins!  

Carlo accidentally put his hand on a sea urchin, so P.A. Beth did some 'surgery' to dig out and remove some of the stingers.

Maurine, Tim and Mary Ellen relaxing on the veranda.

We drove into Porto Cesareo, another port city, for supper the next night.
Margaret actually cleans up pretty well!!  Then Tim, Beth, Maurine, Don, Micki, and Judy.

Anna, Margaret, and Maurine helping to save a parking spot for Don.  The town was hopping on a Friday night, so it was difficult to find a spot anywhere.  We had to fight off several cars who wanted to park there!  :-)  

Waiting for everyone to arrive at the meeting spot before heading to the seafood restaurant for supper.
Left to right:  Michelle, Don, Maurine, Micki, Carlo, and Tim.

It was a beautiful evening at twilight at the seaside, with the moon high in the sky! 

On the walk to dinner, we went through the fish market area, and this fish was about as big as Julio!!  :-)   We enjoyed a wide array of seafood antipasto, then seafood and pasta!  

In the evenings, there were some hot games of 'Up and Down the River' - it got pretty intense at times - HA!!   Judy kept score AND won both nights.  Pretty shady!!  ;-)
Left to right around the table:  Anna, Maurine, Sara, Margaret, Mary Ellen, Don, Judy, Beth, and Tim.  

There had to be some girl-cousin-bonding time.  Here we are on Margaret and Maurine's bed, just hanging out and goofing around!!  

And here's Tim standing on a chair to take the pictures of the girls piled on the twins' bed!    LOL!

I went up on the roof of the villa to take this picture of Tim relaxing and reading his book on the veranda.  

This shows how pretty the grounds were, and how close we were to the sea.  Perfect!!  

On Saturday, we had lots of fun preparing an American meal for Mary Ellen's birthday party that night.  (After lots of amazing Italian meals prepared and supervised by Anna and Mary Ellen during the week!!)  There was a 30-pound turkey that had to be cut up and cooked in three different ovens.  Margaret made potato salad and deviled eggs - yum!  

Cutting cherry tomatoes for meals!
Anna, Beth, Judy, and Sara

Devon passing around a tray of delicious ginger aperitifs.  

You just can't get all those Doughty kids to smile and look at the camera at the same time!!   We sure had a fun time with these goof-balls!  They are good people!!  

Better, but still a little goofy.  That's O.K. though!!    :-)  

Ready for Mary Ellen's birthday dinner and party.

Judy, Aaron, Devon, Jack, and Don at the birthday dinner. 

This is Anna's husband's sister and family.  The kids were with us all week, and their parents came on Friday night.  Such a sweet family!!  

Nice cake for Mary Ellen's birthday!!  

After the party, there was a program.  The younger kids presented an English-Italian version of 'Little Red Riding Hood' that was lots of fun.  And then, the highlight of the show was Margaret, Mary Ellen and Maurine singing and dancing to "We are the Doughty Girls, we wear our hair in curls....."  

Nice job. ladies!!  :-)  

The entertainment continued as Sara, Anna, and Micki joined in the fun!  

The Italians sang 'O Solo Mio' for us too!!  (Filippe and Roberto)

After the talent show, there was dancing back over at the house where dinner was.  

Beth, Micki and Margaret were really boogie-ing!!  

After the 'Up and Down the River' game on Saturday night, the serious card players started a game of poker with Uncle Don.  Beth was the big poker game winner.  Atta girl!!  :-)

The rest of the group was staying longer, but we had to leave Sunday after lunch.  It was such an awesome time hanging out with all the family gathered in Puglia!!  All of the prior sight-seeing and travel we had done with Tim's Mom and with Beth was really wonderful, but not exactly restful, so it was the perfect ending to our European adventures to kick back and enjoy family time, relax at the beach, and have some 'down-time' before heading back to the U.S.  We will always treasure our time spent with the Doughty/Damge/Tambini branches of the family at their reunion in Italy!!

We drove back to the Bari airport to return the rental car, then caught our flight to Germany and then connecting on to Vienna.  Our flight arrival time was too late to catch a train back to Liptovsky Mikuláš that night, so we finally arrived back at our flat on Monday afternoon.   There we did laundry, organized and re-packed, and prepared for our journey back to the U.S. for a month visit at home.