{"id":276,"date":"2007-01-11T23:04:26","date_gmt":"2007-01-11T23:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sararosso.com\/index.php\/2007\/01\/11\/grotte-di-castellana\/"},"modified":"2012-05-31T11:58:11","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T09:58:11","slug":"grotte-di-castellana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/01\/11\/grotte-di-castellana\/","title":{"rendered":"Grotte di Castellana"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>[Style] The return of the yuppie: <a href=\"http:\/\/men.style.com\/details\/features\/landing?id=content_5182\">Are you a gruppie<\/a>?<\/li>\n<li>[Computers] Definitely follow the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifehacker.com\/software\/maintenence\/hack-attack-seven-new-years-resolutions-for-your-pcr-227120.php\">Seven New Year&#8217;s Resolutions for your PC<\/a><\/li>\n<li>[Productivity] I&#8217;ve just enabled this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.getfirefox.com\">Firefox<\/a> plugin that <a href=\"http:\/\/lifehacker.com\/software\/user-script\/limit-your-surfing-with-the-kiwi-cloak-228023.php\">blocks non-productive websites<\/a> (like Bloglines and blogs) during certain parts of the hour. I love it and I hate it!! I configured it to let me surf those sites for only the first 20 minutes of each hour and because of it, I finished a translation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>During the holidays, I went down to Puglia.\u00a0Since I&#8217;ve now been in that area of Puglia more than a handful of times, I hint, hinted about seeing something a bit different this time around. I had heard of the <strong>Grotte di Castellana<\/strong> from another friend who often goes to <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bari\">Bari<\/a>, which is nearby as well as Alberobello (famous for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/01\/02\/back-in-milan-heavier-and-lighter\">trulli I showed you before<\/a>). Unfortunately the wiki on this town contains only a sentence about it being close to Bari, so I will think about updating that page myself.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few things to keep in mind if you&#8217;re interested in visiting: you can only visit the grotte with a guided tour, and there are two itineraries to choose from. The &#8220;short&#8221; itinerary is about 50 minutes the &#8220;long&#8221; one is 2 hours. I can&#8217;t think of a reason NOT to choose the longer itinerary as you obviously miss out on a lot of interesting sights only going partway into the grotte. The long itinerary is an extension of the short itinerary path so you don&#8217;t miss anything.<\/p>\n<p><center><a title=\"Photo Sharing\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/msadventuresinitaly\/342153982\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/127\/342153982_376f9291f2.jpg?resize=500%2C375\" alt=\"Entrance to Castellana Grotte\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/center>Contrary to my misguided notions about caves\/grottoes that I think I kept with me from the Yosemite camp experience I had in 8th grade, the grottoes are not a series of sharp drops and pitchblack holes that you must rely on your partner to move your foot to the next safe holding place, etc. It is a pleasant jaunt, about 3km on the long itinerary and doable for most people who can walk without difficulty, and lit with timed spotlights.<\/p>\n<p>This is the main cavern, which is huge but you can&#8217;t tell it from the picture. It was discovered by Franco Anelli in 1938 and they came through that large opening above. The cavern was used as a storage space and also a grave at a certain point and they found quite a few interesting things when they first discovered the space.<\/p>\n<p><center><a title=\"Photo Sharing\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/msadventuresinitaly\/342154130\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/149\/342154130_c0f352178a.jpg?resize=500%2C375\" alt=\"The &quot;Entrance&quot; of the Cavern\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/center>These are some <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stalagmite\">stalagmites<\/a> which are at the floor of the main cavern. Since I don&#8217;t have a lot of experience in caves\/caverns\/grottoes, I lack an &#8220;expert&#8221; opinion but I saw such a breadth of formation style, color and grotto space I thought it was really fascinating.<\/p>\n<p>Photographs are technically only allowed in specific rooms, which was too bad but also a mixed blessing since I mentioned before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/01\/02\/back-in-milan-heavier-and-lighter\/\">my camera was dying<\/a> on that trip so the pictures weren&#8217;t the best anyway, and you really needed a professional camera and flash to get a decent shot (which is not allowed).<\/p>\n<p><center><a title=\"Photo Sharing\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/msadventuresinitaly\/342154049\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/140\/342154049_6790fa07c3.jpg?resize=500%2C375\" alt=\"Interior of the Large Cavern\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/center>Perhaps the most famous attraction of the Grotte di Castellana is the &#8220;<strong>Grotta Bianca<\/strong>,&#8221; the White Grotto, due to the color of the formations. In the grottoes, they ranged from white to a rust red (including a formation that resembles and is called the &#8220;Prosciutto Sandwich&#8221;) as well as certain formations that resembled a monkey, the Madonnina statue atop the Duomo in Milan, the Duomo itself and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.<\/p>\n<p><center><a title=\"Photo Sharing\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/msadventuresinitaly\/342154220\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/133\/342154220_8e510f44e2.jpg?resize=500%2C375\" alt=\"Inside the Grotta Bianca\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/center>The tour we took was in Italian, but they may have other languages available during the high season. His explanations were very interesting but the group size was quite large so you had to make sure you were near the guide to hear the complete explanation. This was an undeground spring near the Grotta Bianca and the stalagmite formations were really unique.<\/p>\n<p><center><a title=\"Photo Sharing\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/msadventuresinitaly\/342154292\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/141\/342154292_d1def8550b.jpg?resize=500%2C375\" alt=\"Underground spring\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/center><strong>Grotte di Castellana<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.grottedicastellana.it\/\"> http:\/\/www.grottedicastellana.it<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Style] The return of the yuppie: Are you a gruppie? [Computers] Definitely follow the Seven New Year&#8217;s Resolutions for your PC [Productivity] I&#8217;ve just enabled this Firefox plugin that blocks non-productive websites (like Bloglines and blogs) during certain parts of the hour. I love it and I hate it!! I configured it to let me&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/01\/11\/grotte-di-castellana\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-italy","7":"category-puglia","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4uB1-4s","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":382,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/20\/discovering-puglia-and-sicily\/","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":0},"title":"Discovering Puglia and Sicily","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"August 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been spending time in Puglia, in the Manfredonia and Gargano areas this past week, delving into places I have no right to enter, and accosting strangers to share secrets and delicious aspects of life that I enjoy here in Puglia. It's funny, but I've found that since I started\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Discovering Italy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Discovering Italy","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/discovering-italy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Colorful beach sellers in Puglia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1223\/1175460356_5ee78b4263.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3947,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/31\/an-aperitivo-with-the-stone-trulli-in-alberello-puglia\/","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":1},"title":"An Aperitivo with the Stone Trulli in Alberobello, Puglia","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"May 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Next week, I'm super excited to head back to Puglia. It's one of my favorite regions in Italy, and I love spending time there (check out some of my Puglia posts from my archives). I'm heading there for a good friend's wedding, and she's one of the first friends I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Discovering Italy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Discovering Italy","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/discovering-italy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Trulli in the countryside, Puglia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7227\/7307409308_3c9092e0f6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/06\/another-behind-the-scenes-look-in-puglia\/","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":2},"title":"Another behind the scenes look in Puglia","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"June 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've infiltrated one of my favorites places in Puglia to share another behind the scenes look next week. Anyone have a guess where I went? Or what's in the photo?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Another behind the scenes look in Puglia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3002\/2554860875_ccc5dd8304.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3891,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/16\/visiting-castel-del-monte-puglia\/","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":3},"title":"Visiting Castel del Monte, Puglia","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"May 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've spent a lot of time in Puglia, but not as much time as I'd like exploring it. One day we decided to drive out and see the famous 13th-century Castel del Monte (Castle of the Mount) perched up on a hill out in the middle of the Puglian countryside,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Discovering Italy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Discovering Italy","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/discovering-italy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Castel del Monte from a distance","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5346\/7208548980_568ed38dd3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2621,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/23\/sights-and-flavors-of-puglia-sapori-di-puglia\/","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":4},"title":"Sights and Flavors of Puglia &#8211; Sapori di Puglia","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"July 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"So I have a new job - if you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw this. I am excited and proud to be a part of the Automattic (WordPress.com and more) team! Being location-independent now means that I can do something like wake up at 3:30am on a Saturday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Discovering Italy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Discovering Italy","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/discovering-italy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Matinatella beach in early morning in Puglia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4138\/4818740679_3ca1a6dbee.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4454,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/31\/new-years-in-puglia\/","url_meta":{"origin":276,"position":5},"title":"New Year&#8217;s in Puglia","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"December 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm back from a trip to Morocco (a few photos from that trip already online on my mobile photo blog, or rossosara on Instagram\u00a0- add me!) and I'm now in Puglia for New Year's. Some of the scenes lighting up my last days of 2012: Yummy pettole, fried golden dough\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Italy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Italy","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/italy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3952,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions\/3952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}