Day 18: Saturday, May 24. This is the official halfway mark of our journey. We have completed 17 days, and we return home in 17 more days.

This was a huge day. Kim and I arose early to drive Jake to the Bologna airport so he could catch his flight back to Manchester. We had to leave about 5:30 a.m. I made sure to get him in the correct line for check in, then Kim and I were off (about 8:30 a.m.) headed down the east coast of Italy. It was a long drive, but fortunately there was not a lot of traffic or road construction, so it went pretty smoothly. We were able to arrive in Polignano al Mare at a decent hour. It's a great place located right on the coast, with big rock cliffs dropping into the sea.

We stayed in a very nice B&B just about a 10 minute walk outside the city center. A couple owned and operated a brand new place (open since January) with just 3 guest rooms. The place was clean, nice, and the hospitality was fantastic. I hate to admit that the who reason we went to P al M was an online photo we had seen of a restaurant in a cave looking out on the sea. 

Our hostess told us it was expensive, and the food used to be good but the quality has fallen off. We opted instead for good food. 

The town was a perfect place to celebrate our anniversary, even if it was a day late. We walked around enjoying the sights and sounds. I was really surprised to find so many English speakers in this part of Italy. I was told that in recent years, people from the UK and Ireland have begun to come now that there are daily flights to Bari (the provincial capital nearby). In spite of all the tourists, it really didn't feel bad. No shopkeepers trying to pull you into their shops, or restauranteurs trying to show you their menus. I'll just let a few pictures tell the story. 

We had to stop for an afternoon snack :)

Perhaps the most famous son of Polignano al Mare was Domenico Modugno, most famous for the song he sang in the late 1950s, Volare (in Italy it's called "Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu").