Thanks for the thought, kybourbon, but that link doesn't work, and when I clicked on your name, I couldn't find it either.

Try this one.

https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...bello-1713541/

Thanks, that link worked. I appreciate the pictures. The hotel looks Iike a good option, especially with restaurants nearby.

Eckscrunchy, we spent three wonderful weeks in
Polignano a Mare and used it as a base to explore Puglia. We also went to Matera and Everyone , including you, raves about it. But We were not wowed at all. What did we miss? I found the caves creepy and did not want to shop in them. I would never be able to sleep in a cave room! Honestly, I couldn’t wait to leave there.

RainyCityGirl: Just booked four nights at PALAZZO TAFURI, with a room with terrace so that partner can relax when I am out exploring if he is too tired...

Susanring: I am so sorry that you did not have a great experience in Matera. You say you did like shopping in caves but there are so many shops in the upper town located in pretty modern buildings.
Did you go to any of the reconstructed caves that depict how the Materese lived not all that long ago? Museums?

I wanted to stay in that (upper) area last year but could not find a suitable hotel. I would bet that if you spent a night or two in the place we stayed last year SEXTANTIO GROTTA DELLA CIVITA,you would have had a totally different view of the caves. Imagine the people that lived in them not all that long ago....for me Matera is right up there with my favorite place in Europe, but not everyone is as enthused as some of us. On an earlier trip we spent about three nights in the hotel recommended by KJA: Locanda San Martino and that was also lovely!! High recommendation from both of us.

There is a lot to see and do in the region so maybe a future trip will whet your appetite more.........as of yet, Basilicata and Molise, where we also dipped into on that same trip, are among the few regions of Italy that do not get huge amounts of foreign tourists.

I highly recommend a visit to both regions, as well as to the Gargano peninsula in Puglia....we visited those three regions last
September driving all the way from Vietri to Maratea (Basilicata;'s dreamy beach area) to Tursi, and then Matera.

From there, northern Puglia near Minervino and then to the Gargano to glorious
Vieste..........what a delight!

On to Termoli and inland Molise before making our way back to Fiumicino with a few nights along the route......cannot get enough of Italy and there are so may northern regions that I've not yet explored!!! And have a hankering for Sardinia....

You have not tasted Italian meats until you have tasted the Pampanella Molisana pork, of inland Molise!!!!

That's great news ekscrunchy, I hope it is as lovely as it looks!

It won't be too long in Bari.

Bari has a decent metro (train ) network. You can easily reach neighbouring cities, e.g. Bitonto.

https://museipuglia.cultura.gov.it/ticket/

This pass is a good deal. Museum staff I met are quite talkative, too.

If you are interested in archaeological finds， this museum has great curatorship.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/qCLGjCBxf4to6bHdA

Rainy City Girl (and anyone else who has opinions):

Just learned that my partner cannot accompany me to Pugliai in May/June. (Cataract surgery in two eyes)

The trip was (in pencil but hotels booked):

4 nights Bari
A week or so near Savelletrii at hotel we have stayed at before
Nardo..4 nights
Hotel with pool near Otranto....about 5 nights.

Fly home from Brindisi.

I would rent a car upon leaving Bari.

No hurry, but for now, wondering if this ought to be postponed until September.
I will decide that but I would like to learn about your thoughts of doing this alone....

Bari, no problem alone.
Car rental, anxiety but I can do this alone in Puglia.roardds are good and I would request a GPs in the car.

But Palazzo Tafuri, alone for 4 nights????? Is that pool large enough to actually swim back And forth for exercise? Also wonder about the temperature of pool, but can only hope for a warm one, no guarantees... but how would I spend the days there.....evenings, great, walk to restaurants.....but four nights/. And if a shorter trip, is it worthwhile driving out of the way to go there at all in May??
And it might be HOTb to wander around by late May (??)

Last stop, fancy masseria near Otranto...of course I could lie around the pool and read but not worth time or money to do that...... (Hotel is the Baglioni, which I have doubts about to begin with..it's, upscale luxury chain hotel but not based in Puglia, and this one gets good but not great reports.

If it were the two of us, partner could relax and I could piddle around, explore places nearby with car.....Otranto itself we liked but second visit not really necessary as I think it has become more tourist-centric, so I would explore surroundings and make us of late sunsets to maybe drive to dinner alone....). I chose this hotel for the pool where partner could relax, given his mobility issues and liking of lounging around. We stayed before (once or maybe twice) in Masseria Montelauro which is also very nice...near Otranto, as well.

Even as I write this, thought become more clear.....

I'm thinking that this trip might be better to either cut down, or postpone.....especially interested in RainyCity's take on staying 4 nights in Nardo.

I mean, nothing could be negative..it's Italy (!!). But am best off going another time, or postponing as I wondered, above...??
Or going alone somewhere else for maximum of two weeks..where to go in Italy in late May for two weeks that is not HOT?????

Or stay home this season and be happy I've done as much wandering as I've done already..!?!

Oh that's a dilemma to have ekscrunchy. Do you think if you postpone it til September your partner will be able to join you then? I think I would do that.
Nardo for four days, I mean you could do it and take yourself on little day trips each day but I think you would enjoy that more with your partner.
I would either postpone it all until September or do a solo trip somewhere a bit easier to get to and with more things to do and see within one city with public transit/walking options.

Sorry to hear that your partner can't join you. No possibility of doing the cataract surgeries a bit earlier? I had mine done two weeks apart and could have travelled maybe three weeks after the second one.

Anyway, I left for Puglia on May 29, had 17 nights in Puglia before going to Rome, so most of the time in Puglia was the first 2 weeks in June. It was very hot! Temperatures ranged from 85-109! Just FYI.

I, too, would wonder about spots where there's not much to do if you don't want just pool time, but of course that's up to you. And...I thought you had said on a couple of threads that you didn't want to drive at night for dinner? Or are you not bothered so much about that now?
Decisions, decisions. 😀

Thanks a million to you both.
SusanP: Yes, I would be scared to drive alone at night but would make myself do it.
But since a lot of the trip is really focused on relaxing, and eating, apart from the Bari portion, I'm thinking that I should wait.

Partner has bad issues with one 'lazy eye, which now has very little sight" and is petrified of the entire thing. He's worked it out with the surgeon that he needs 5 weeks after the surgeries to visit the doctor....I don't even know why but I guess his case is severe, or his anxiety is playing a role. And he has mild Parkinsons affecting one arm, which I think he said might interfere....I know I sound like a dope here but he wants to go alone to most md appts and then does not take notes as I've asked him to do a thousand times...... I did speak to the "regular' eye doctor in person today who assured me that he has "only" one percent chance things going badly; I am not telling him that because it even scares me!!! This is a person who has neglected many medical issue due to ignorance (when a child) or fear, and now is facing the results of that...... But if things go wrong with the "good" eye, he will not be able to see, so that is enough to make me a wreck although I am trying to look on the good side..easy when you are not the patient!!

Aye.....the "Golden Years!!" But I should not complain..look we are the very lucky ones who can even think about traveling no less to places that some people think are beyond "exotic!!" I cannot tell you how many people are stunned when I tell them: "No, I am not going on a tour." "No, we are not hiring a private guide." You all know that drill!!

SusanP is the bravest of us, as she does all this by public transport, but the three of us are GREAT travelers, as Ii see here over and over again...When are we all going to meet up somewhere in Italy, and eat and eat and eat, with some sightseeing?? I volunteer to do the driving!!!

x

Hope all goes well. I have to admit that I was a little freaked out at the thought of them cutting into the eye, but they do this all the time. I didn't have much choice, since I was legally blind in the right eye before the surgery.

Yes, would be so fun to meet up in Italy! I'm looking at going to Florence/Arrezo (jousting festival there, plus lots more)/Rome next September. I know you were encouraging me to go to Sicily or Matera, but I don't want to be stressed all the time with all those stairs with no railing! Balance is the issue for me.

Yes meeting up in Italy would be fun! You are so brave to drive there.
Re: your partner's eye surgery- my brother had both eyes done in Sept., cataract lens replacement with light adjustable lenses. He only had one small cataract but hated wearing reading glasses so chose to do this. He is pretty squeamish about his eyes so chose to be put out for it, unlike my husband who was wide awake, yikes. Brother's surgery was a big success but part of the whole thing has been weekly visits to the surgeon and I think the last visit is next week, so it is a bit of a process with follow up. He is very happy with the results although he says everything is very bright now but the Dr says he will get used to that over time.

Many heartfelt thanks to both of you for being on my side, and for the helpful into. He got a date for the surgeries I mid-May which will not work with the trip I planned.

Since there is no major rush, I can take time to think bout it and either amend the pan and go alone, or jut relax at home and go in September...
When I plan to go on a trip alone, the planning is always so much fun and the anxiety sets in when the date nears.....

I've got that this week with the stent that was supposed to be placed in his leg and for some reason, they cancelled his appt without him knowing...entire day wasted going here and there to find out why the problem was........(supposed to leave Friday for Spain!).

Many have much larger problems so Ii can't really complain about any of this.


BTW: I got a few couple of truly kind e-mails from staff members we had met in Sicily in Sepetember; about our elections. I was amazed at how closely these hotel people were following our politics, and they had their own complaints about Meloni.

Just updating this to say I changed the Puglia trip to October so partner can come along (I hope!)



So I think now, something like this:

Fly into Bari; spend three nights. There is a new hotel named BRA....(??). First day will be a wash, after flying from US. So just lunch or dinner and then rest... Thank you, SusanP, for all your help and enthusiasm about Bari!!

Rent car upon departure and drive to Masseria outside Ceglie Messapica...three nights (waiting for response to my e-mail). I've heard Ceglie is one of the restaurant meccas of Puglia, but who knows.....surely we will find great places to eat everywhere in that region. But definitely want to have at least one dinner at Cibus. Anyone here been to that restaurant and what did you think??

https://www.masseriacamarda.it/eng/index.php


Drive to Nardo, to Palazzo Tafuri (Thank you, RainyCityGirl!!). ..four nights there; I wrote to them three days ago and am hoping to get an answer about availability soon.
Drive to Sta Maria al Bagno, Galatina, etc....

https://www.palazzotafuri.com


Drive to Savelletri and spend week in hotel we've stayed three times and loved around 2011 more or less.
its now part of Rocco Forte so has become very pricey, but they have a wonderful heated pool and its easy to drive around that area so will take lots of day trips...they had a normal room only free beginning 17 October but that should be ok for us; that would be the last stop before heading home to USA. (Torre Maizza)

Drive to Bari and get flight back to US....might have to spend last night closer to Bari airport, depending on flight times to connection city and then on to JFK.

I'd love to read any tips about the area around Nardo (remember his is early October) and will return here once the timing gets closer and after I hear from the two hotels I've written to but not yet received a response.

Oh good to hear the Puglia trip is back on ekscrunchy!
We have eaten at Cibus, back in 2014 though on our first trip. We went with a German couple we met at our Masseria, they had been a few times before.
The food was delicious, I especially liked the antipasti and first courses and side dishes as I am not the biggest meat lover and will only eat certain meats. They have donkey and horse on the menu...definitely as a horse and donkey lover not eating those. The Germans ate some of each and were loving it though. My husband enjoyed his main course meat dish, think it was some kind of beef, but he found bone chips in the meat and I think they butcher their meat kind of differently there, we watched them in one of those butcher shop/bbq places and they seemed to be kind of hacking the meat in a haphazard (to my eyes) way.
Despite that one little niggle everything was fantastic, I think you will enjoy it.
I think I mentioned 2 of our fave Nardo restaurants up thread, if I remember any of the others I will chime in. And I will look up the names of the little towns where we went to the beach clubs.

I had lunch at Cibus in 2023, and it was delicious. Like rcg, I especially loved the antipasti (and dessert!). I didn't order a secondo, instead choosing a typical primo.

I do wonder--because it's such a food pilgrimage site--if lunch might be better in terms of atmosphere than dinner. It was all Italians, one table of French, one other table of Americans plus me when I was there midweek.

I wandered around Ceglie Messapica before and after lunch--there certainly seemed to be several tempting restaurant options and I was sorry I didn't have time for more meals there.

Leely, when we had dinner there it was all Italians that I could see apart from us and the Germans. Mind you this was 2014 in October and we saw hardly any other English speakers.

Yes, rcg, I was thinking it's highly likely that you were there well before the tourist boom in Puglia! Things were mellow when I visited, but I was there during a cool early/mid May, before the season.

I would not stay four nights in Bari though I could do three.

We loved Trani and wished we had spent more time there.