Trulli Houses - Alberbello, Italy

Today we drove a couple hours north to visit the Trulli houses and also spent most of the day doing laundry.  We went to a laundromat in Alberbello.  No one was there.  There were 3-4 washers along one wall - a payment section followed by 3-4 dryer on the same wall.  There was a large table in the middle with a few chairs.  Also in a locked cabinet with a couple of samples of laundry detergents.  We figured we needed to get some detergent - so headed off to a grocery store.  The store was  along a busy street - and there was no place to park.  We drove around a couple of blocks and came back.  It looked like people were parking where ever there was a vague suggestion of a parking spot - even if it ventured partly onto the road.  They would rush in and buy what they needed and go on their way.  So Mike parked in front of a driveway with a gate that was closed and I went in the store.  I found the right section - but couldn't tell if a bottle was for washing dishes, laundry or some other purpose.  Well, I have google translate on my phone - so I typed in "washing machine detergent" and showed it to the first unsuspecting person who came down my aisle.  She tried to be helpful, but couldn't quite figure out what I wanted.  We finally agreed upon a product and I went to pay for it.  The checkout person confirmed that is was right.  As it was late we stopped to get lunch in town before going back to the laundry.
In the square - perfect tourist spot where all the tourists go to eat lunch they have this view.

We drove back to the laundromat and this time there was some one there.  She did not know any English and we knew no Albanian.  But she showed how to use the machines - also the machines already contained detergent - so all that effort was for nothing.  But there is a lot of waiting when washing clothes.  So I decided to go for a walk.  The laundry was on the outskirts of town and I quickly walked into the countryside.  And there were a lot of Trulli houses all over.  These are mostly used for homes now.  If a family needs more room they just build on a square room next to the old Trulli house.  The upper part is now used for storage and the family lives below.  This has been true for the past couple of centuries.  But before that the buildings must have been taller as it has been told that the family lived above in the conical shaped top section and below they housed their animals.  In fact when we were at our bnb on a farm just outside of Alberbello, the owner said that the room we were staying in had formerly been used to stable horses.  It did have the pointed roof top and a very high ceiling in the room.  We did not ask how old the home was - but I suspect it was a couple of centuries.