PUGLIA, ITALY – MONOPOLI as well as LECCE TO TRULLI as well as GALLIPOLI

This past week, we’ve hit the southern Italian roads difficult as well as have explored around as much of the tip of Italy’s stiletto as possible.

You may have heard that the roads around the southeastern peninsula of Puglia are crazy, dangerous as well as terrifying. They’re not.

In fact, after you’ve been behind the wheel for a bit while right here in Italy, you discover yourself overtaking inappropriately, driving as well fast, choosing out auto parking areas that aren’t truly there as well as gesticulating wildly at anything that moves. It’s a great deal of fun.

But in this IG Edition, we’d like you to comply with us with the bit towns, cities as well as spectacular coastlines of Puglia, southeastern Italy.

Cincin – Jim & Christina xx

We’re so unfortunate to leave the lovely town of Monopoli behind.For the both of us, this amazing bit coastal city has truly caught our hearts. From last week’s IG Edition, you can see the fun we had here.

To make our separation from Monopoli a bit easier, we’ve gone a bit method south to Porto Rosso.

In fact, if you’re in Monopoli, you’ll struggle to discover great locations to eat as well as drink at the bit city beach there. Porto Rosso is only a short cab or bike trip from Monopoli – or a decent hike if you’re feeling active – however the beach is even more regional as well as the bar as well as restaurants right on the water are the huge reward.

Our next stop on our road trip is to the lovely bit hilltop town of Martina Franca. Mrs romance stayed right here as part of her photography program just recently as well as she’s keen to show me around.

Martina Franca is absolutely lovely – full of the interesting nooks as well as alleys hiding treasure after treasure we’ve come to expect from these Italian towns.

We’ve stopped at Garibaldi Bistrot for lunch as well as despite the scorching day, this ristorante has me in the palm of its hand. No question Mrs romance likes this area so much.

[We likewise had a bit of drama: after our lovely lunch, we stepped inside the close-by church Basilica di San Martino. Its elegant high ceilings as well as lavish walls were impressive… it was likewise nice as well as great inside.

But we were surprised to hear shouting as well as found the priest confronting a young guy as well as then chasing him out of the church doors, taking pictures of him on his wise phone.

Mrs romance stated the priest was calling him a thief as well as asking people to take pictures as the lad escaped. like the Vicar of Dibley as well as Cops all in one!]

Halfway between Martina Franca as well as the UNESCO listed town of Alberobello, we stop at our lodging for the night. Le Dieci Porte (The 10 Doors) is one of the most remarkable locations we’ve ever stayed in.

This building is called a ‘trullo’ as well as has an amazing history. The close-by town of Alberobello is mainly made up of these strange looking houses, which is why it has a UNESCO listing.

There are rather a few BnBs where you can stay in trulli, however this village is definitely the very best we’ve found.

Le Dieci Porte is the culmination of a husband-and-wife team’s 10-year labour of love. From simple ruins, they converted these trulli into an amazing bit village of 5 spaces each with its own en suite bathroom.

The bathrooms, by the way, are especially fascinating as they’ve been set into the walls of the trulli. When they were very first in use, the trulli didn’t have bathrooms, however Stella as well as Christophe (and Stella’s dad) have utilized the incredibly thick walls (we’re speaking meters thick) to in shape a toilet, bidet, shower, vanity as well as sink in each trullo.

Not only is the stay at Le Dieci Porte an historical delight, the breakfast right here is likewise amazing. You’ve got the very best of both foodie worlds integrating each morning you stay right here with Stella being Italian as well as Christophe being French.

It’s a breakfast/prima colazione/petit déjeuner to remember.

We’ve brought our Olympus cameras as well as Kobo e-reader to breakfast, however we’re method as well hectic eating to take many pictures or read!

Our next stop is to the historic town of Ostuni, further south on the east coastline of the Italian heel.

There’s a longer shot of this location in the title pic, however even from this picture you can see why they phone call this the White City. Every year, they whitewash every wall as well as step.

It provides a extremely Greek feel to the place, which isn’t so far wrong. Greek tribes, including the Spartans, settled in this area a long time back as well as the vestiges of their culture lives within the walls of many parts of southeastern Puglia.

Our next stop – as well as where we’ll be for a few nights – is the much bigger town of Lecce. This town is extremely much the funding of southern Puglia as well as it feels rather strange to be in a location that hasso much more of a city feel to it.

As night draws in, bars begin opening as well as the al fresco tables as well as chairs grow into the street. The feeling of busyness right here has an strange impact on Mrs romance as well as myself; it’s somehow accelerated us as well as slowed us down at the exact same time.

Lecce is most famous for its Baroque architecture. If you ask any type of southern Italian what they believe of when you state Lecce’s name, it’s most likely going to be this architectural period.

The grandeur of the city as well as its crumbling façades as well as plaster rendering takes us right back to Cuba. There’s extremely much a feeling of a modernised Havana about this city… I mean, there’s even a MacDonald’s here!

In spite of all the history, lovely design as well as culture to be had in Lecce, our favourite discover of all right here is this place: the Saloon Keeper 1933. However, unlike its name or its look, this lovely bit bar has only been open for about 8 months.

The mixed drinks right here are superb, Giuseppe right here has some amazing skills as well as the bar itself appears like a speakeasy time warp. We’re even getting to sample a couple of Italian gins in two beautifully made martinis.

Today, we’re out checking out the coastline around Lecce. Otranto as well as its harbour beach is a draw card for a great deal of Italians each summertime as well as I can see why.

As we look out over the battlements of the old town, which were developed in support of pirates, the radiant blue waters of the Adriatic look extremely welcoming.

It’s a hot one, however there’s always time for a quick selfie when you’re 50m above the sea in the ancient city of Otranto!

A bit further down the coastline is the beach resort town of Laghi Alimini. It’s a bit over-developed of what we’re utilized to with the free as well as simple Aussie beaches, however the environment on the beach right here is amazing.

Even though it’s mid week as well as not even the begin of the summertime appropriate here, the beach is packed with households as well as couples enjoying the sunny weather condition as well as clear, warm seawater.

The beach clubs that line a great deal of Italy’s shorelines are commonly costly as well as over-populated.

We’re not fans of the clubs, so we’ve popped to a bit deli in a bit town by the sea, bought a couple of prosciutto as well as cheese panini as well as a bottle of beer to share.

That’s the method to do it. Dangle your legs over the cliff as well as enjoy the Italian dolce vita.

Our AirBnB hold in Lecce has put us onto this amazing place. Grotta della Poesia is a bit like the cenoté in Mexico – significant eroded holes in the bedrock where seawater has developed a natural swimming pool.

This area of Italy is famous for its cliff divers. I don’t understand if the pros bother with this place, however the concept of jumping off a high cliff into water is obviously contagious.

Mrs romance as well as I spend about an hour right here photographing as well as videoing the locals leaping off into the water. It’s incredible as well as a great deal of fun.

Our next stop is a location called Ciolo, where the waters from the Adriatic as well as the Ionian Seas begin mingle. The result – together with the soft limestone cliffs – make the water the most incredible remove blue.

Finally, we come to the town of Gallipoli. Don’t get confused with the Turkish coastal town that features so heavily in the Anzac WWI story.

This town was named Gallipoli by the Greeks – as in kalle polis or ‘beautiful city’.

It is indeed lovely – these ramparts are the walls of the old town, which is set on an island right off the mainland, as well as is accessible only by bridge. In truth you can see part of the ‘new town’ in the distance, though even that’s got a Baroque feel to it.

The very first thing we do when we’ve inspected into our hotel in Gallipoli old town is head out for a spritz. We’ve landed a table on the sea side of town at a bar called La Spingula or ‘The Spindle’.

Just across the road from the bar is a bit location that makes fishing baskets as well as craft out of reeds. The tool the craftsmen utilize is called a spindle.

And right here I am – across the road from La Spingula with our new good friends Antonio, Luigi as well as Giovanni. We’re watching England play Germany in the under 21s quarter final. It’s not looking good.

Antonio, Luigi as well as Giovanni on the other hand aren’t doing as well terribly at all. only Luigi is under 80… as well as he’s 79! Weaving fish baskets must be great for you!

Not to be outdone, Mrs romance has discovered her own basket weaver. We didn’t catch this fella’s name, however he’s rather excellent.

Mrs R is having a go at weaving herself, though the spindle she’s got seems to handle a life of its own when he’s utilizing it.

We like exactly how friendly the locals are right here in Gallipoli even though this location gets hammered every August with tourists. perhaps since we’re right here before the silly season, everyone’s in a much better frame of mind.

Gallipoli’s city beach is truly extremely pretty. It’s really rather lovely to see people still living a typical life within these ancient city walls that have definitely seen so much.

The water in this area still keeps taking us by surprise too. Its brightness as well as warmth are definitely showed in its citizens.

Today we’ve continued our method round to southernmost tip of the heel of Italy on our method to our last stop before we leave. We’ve made a lunchtime pit stop at the bit town of Torre Vado.

This regional gem – Antichi Sapori, which means ‘ancient flavours’ – is amazing. It’s a peaceful weekday afternoon, so only us as well as a couple of locals are here, however even at peak times, I can’t envision anyone however locals coming by here.

And that’s the appeal of Italy. You don’t have to go far from the primary road before you’re immersed in the type of daily life travellers yearn for. It’s right here in Italy in abundance.

And the very best thing: if you’re polite, the locals truly don’t mind sharing what they’ve got.

Our final stop in Italy before we move on to pastures Scandinavian is in a bit country retreat set in the middle of olive orchards about 30 minutes from Brindisi, where we’ll catch our flight out to Sweden.

We’ve popped to a regional supermarket as well as bought method as well much food for 2 nights, however the cheese as well as meats they had there were just as well tempting. as for the figs, they’re just growing in the tree outside our front door.

Lunch today – as if we didn’t have sufficient meat as well as cheese last night – is the most tasty cheese as well as ham roll you’ve ever imagined. I mean, look at my face!

Cheese as well as ham doesn’t truly paint the right photo though. In here, Mrs romance has stuffed tasty prosciutto, rocket, small rich tomatoes as well as – finest of all – oozy, creamy burrata. It’s a mix of stringy mozzarella as well as thick cream. If you haven’t had it before, get some pronto!

I believe I’ll requirement that hammock in a minute after I’ve completed my prosecco!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this IG Edition. We’ll see you soon from one more part of Europe next week!

Jim & Christina xx