Citybreak & Super Roadtrip in Puglia, Italy

Oh, Italy! How we loved you!

So... my birthday was coming and this year I wanted to do something special. Going out for a cocktail or dinners had become repetitive, the need to see new places was pushing me more and more often, and the fact that the big day was approaching with haste and I hadn't planned anything was starting to press me harder. Click: open Safari - click: open Google - Search: Google Maps - zoom out, zoom out, zoom out! Uhuuu ... so many possibilities! Search: vola.ro - period: my birthday and a few extra days - Search: destinations and airplane tickets.

I don't know how, I don't know on what principle, but not only that I chose Bari, but I was mega excited and very confident of this choice. Now that I think about it, I don't have the faintest idea why I chose Bari. I'm so glad I did! Maybe it was just a moment's inspiration. Intuition. Why does it matter? I was guided exactly where I needed to be for that day!

Bari

Today's my Birthday !! And we've landed in the heel of the huge boot !!! Bari is part of the Puglia region and it is also called "terra rossa" because the soil has a reddish tint. For the lovers of Greece, the agricultural fields on the edges of the roads are full of olive trees, with the stalk curled, in all sorts of fascinating forms - do you know what their stalk looks like? Like that tower of sand you build at the seaside, with the wet sand that you let flow from your fingers. Same colour too. We've rented a small, blue car, which - dear her - walked us through the whole Puglia with only one full, ONE! I'm telling you: We've took it out of the parking lot with the full done and we've brought it ... almost to zero. So we could have gone a little longer! And we didn't stop for a second !! We left visiting this small and sweet city for the last day (I will make a special post about Bari in which I will tell you where we stayed and I'll go into more details) At the accommodation we arrived around lunch - we changed clothes and left! From here - directly to Matera!

Matera

There are about 70 km to Matera, from Bari, by car, but of course, this road can also be done by train which can be taken directly from the central train station in Bari. The city being very small, you can reach the train station immediately!

We've got gelatto! (ice cream)

On my birthday, a lot of people were celebrating something and patrolling the streets in a row, happy, clapping. For my birthday, in the center of Matera, the scene was getting ready for a show! On my birthday, the sunset was wonderful, the bells of the old town's church sounded wonderful, and the scenery was dreamlike! Matera - a city built entirely of stone, with narrow streets, with caves, a river and a lot of greenery. What do I mean? I mean ... if you look from a certain point, to your left you see the crowded houses, carved in stone, and to your right, you see stretches of grass and small caves.

On my bithday, we were hungry and looking up and down for a place with scenery, where we could have dinner and a glass of wine. Tips: In Italy, you are allowed to drive after drinking a glass of wine !!! Attention: A glass of wine (a normal, simple, authentic one, not a glass that you put on the top of the bottle, instead of a stopper, and not of half a litter glass. One - small - normal - glass - of wine. So isn't it great? We've read the law on several sites - it's authentic info! You got it right, hihi! In the evening, in the old town of Matera, all the houses seem to catch fire, and we had the most perfect landscape! We've ordered a plate for two with Italian specialties (cheeses, sausages, etc.) and a serving of bruschette with something that looked like our Romanian beaten bean + their specialty, a dry, smoked pepper.

Stefan has been singing to me happy birthday at least 3 times, if not 4 times. Once at 00:01 the previous day, once at dinner, in Matera, at the dessert and once in the room, before 00:00. And there was one more time, but .... he will certainly remind me when he'll read this post and see that I forgot * uups *

Alberobello

Not my birthday anymore, but it is the next day in Italy! We had breakfast in Bari (croissant and a good and creamy espresso) and here we go again! First stop? Alberobello !!!

There are about 55 km from Bari to Alberobello, of course - you can also get here by train. Tickets are not expensive at all - I know this because we were not sure we wanted to rent a car (but how blessed we were to rent - We've won a lot of time), so I've checked prices, routes, etc. We got gelatto!

Here we are! in a different world - the houses are called Trulli and are made exclusively of stone. The town is inscribed on the list of UNESCO's world heritage. The roof of the houses on the main street is painted with different mystical symbols and also, here you can find most souvenir shops, especially handmade painted vases, Trulli-es made of stone in different sizes and fridge magnets.

The only activities you can do here are: buy and drink a lot of water (if you go in a summer month because it is breathable hot), take many pictures, walk on the streets and stop in the park, where you can hide in the shade of a tree to cool off a bit. You eat ice cream !!!! In my case there is an added activity - "beautiful girl pirouette". That's what Stefan calls it - it's kind of like: "we've been here together!". Hihihi - no matter how cheesy it sounds. Anyway, he is super cute and he finds a way to make me smile every time. We tried to remember to do this almost everywhere, but many times we forget - in Sighisoara we had to go back to a certain spot, just to do this because we forgot - yuuup!

Grotte di Castellana

We get in the car and leave for the most important attraction in Puglia! At 16 km from Alberobello lies the Grotto of Castellana, naturally formed, with an invaluable value for Italy. It began to form 90 million years ago and offers a unique view. The tour is totally guided, on a distance of 3 km at a depth of 60m below the ground. No, we did not take the tour unfortunately because we were not dressed properly and because, it was not part of our list, but we were there, we got informed and took a real Italian lunch - orecchette with tomatoes and basil and a sandwich with prosciutto, bacon and ... hmm ... Delicious anyway! Appetizer from the house: a ceramic bowl filled with small pretzels and traditional rolls.

Capitolo

With happy tummies, directly to Capitolo - about 28 km. We're going to the beach! It is well known that, in this part of Italy, the beaches are generally rocky and quite small. We tried our luck at one of the arranged ones, which we also found in the online recommendations and it was put on the list - the prices were exuberant - just for the deck chair next to the water - they didn't include anything else. Just a little further there was a small beach, with a price more than affordable, we paid only the umbrella and spread our towels on the beach, right here: Porto Giardino. The water was wonderful. We caught our breath here, cooled of a little in the water, and just like that we put some Adriatic on our skin!

Monopoli

Yay! It's still Today and with sun-soaked skin and cooled by the sea water, we leave for Monopoli - just 7 km away. The sky is blue and the sun is preparing to set. A town in a port, with a game name and white houses! In the center of the town, a few singers are holding a small show. We had dinner here. We ate a Italian, authentic pizza and we liked it! Obviously, we drank a glass of wine and stuffed ourselves with olives.

The Lighhouse in Monopoli is one of the main attractions, from which the sunset is beautiful and the houses look like a pastel palette of blue hues. The cliff makes you stop for a moment to get your sight lost in the blue, deep sea ....

The sea line is perfectly blended with the sky, and the blue boats in the harbor make you want to take pictures of them nonstop. From certain angles, the white buildings with brightly coloured windows, green, red or blue can be seen in the background. Monopoly charms you in a special way and attracts you to walk through the maze of streets, paved with red flowers, near souvenir shops, where handmades are again, the centerpiece and to spend your time with a glass of wine, in the center of the market, with a background of Italian music.

Oh, Puglia!

Ostuni

Good morning!

Here we are, another day in Italy!

Yesterday we've visited 4 cities! At breakfast when we counted them we couldn't believe it and yet, we had plenty of time and even managed to get bored! Ostuni - or The White City. 85 km from Bari to here. The old center and the Arco Scoppa Cathedral are the main tourist attractions of the city. The architecture and the golden bicycle are also, reason for many pictures! You can visit it very quickly and that's exactly what we did. We got bored quickly and ran to Martina Franca.

Martina Franca

What an interesting name! Another 23 km on the shortest road, so far! We've parked next to a park, through which we also passed in order to reach the Old Center. The city is not very crowded, even though it is listed among the tourist spots in the heel of the boot, which we were very pleased with. Had the city just for us!

White houses and cubic stone streets, the same story landscape, with narrow labyrinths and baroque architecture. We've stopped at a café with drawn tables, then snacked at one of the pubs in front of the Cathedral in Piazza Plebiscito.

Italians and Aperol - if in Romania, the waiters ask you if you want a beer, here you are asked everywhere if you want an Aperol. I do, I do!

Taranto

In 32 km we are on the opposite side of the stump and looking for a parking place to go to the beach in Taranto!

Tips: There are fine sandy beaches here too! Yes, large, stretched - a beach in the true sense of the word. The water was warm and the sand was the same. The sun was setting so it didn't burn very hard. It looks like a wild beach, that kind of beach, where you park the car behind some grassy hills and pebbles - then walk directly on a soft and wonderful sand, where you come to make sand angels ..... you know? Exactly sand angels I would have made in that sand, especially after we had walked for so much!

Directly from here we went to see the Fortress of Taranto and we walked a little on the cliff and through the city. Everything was dirty and messy, as if we were seeing a live image of the ghettoes in the movies. We expected the smell of carrions and to see people with guns. It was not so bad, there was even a wedding! The bride and the guests were dressed very elegantly, in a completely opposite landscape - a fascinating contrast. And very quiet, also! I attach the nicest pictures :)

When the sun disappeared slightly in the sky, we checked the last place on our list! The next day, we dedicated it entirely to the city where we stayed!

Bari

As in a circular story, I go back to the beginning! We've made an absolutely wonderful route and we've seen so many beautiful cities, pure Italian landscapes. We've managed to see absolutely everything we had on our list and we had even time to get bored! Also, we've seen the beautiful and unintended parts, the suburbs! 3 nights in Puglia were absolutely enough and if we had taken some more, the next destination would have been Pompeii. We were just on the edge of extending our stay! We couldn't have enough of Italy. We got its taste - yes, the wine and the food are so good! Last night we had dinner in Bari and the nightlife took us by surprise: the streets were full, the women were sitting on the narrow streets, on plastic chairs, talking until morning, the teenagers were everywhere, and the cliff? Full of restaurants and pubs, one next to the other, the place was full !!! It was so crowded, so livefully, that we couldn't believe it!

Once again we have chosen a restaurant with a terrace that offered us a complete view on everything we had around, specialized in pasta! And let's not go to sleep anymore, so it won't became tomorrow, so we won't have to go back home! I want to dedicate an entire article to Bari, I hasten to write it, I promise!