Just back from Puglia
 

We just got back from 10 days in Puglia. We had a great time despite lots of clouds and some rainy days. We stayed in Lecce for 3 nights, near Ostuni for 3 nights, 1 night in Matera and ended with 3 nights in Trani.

This is not a trip report. The detailed web page about this trip will be posted on my travel site in a month or so. In the meantime, I will be happy to answer any specific questions anyone has about visiting this lesser known part of Italy. I also want to thank those who helped me here on the forum in planning this trip.

Here are a few observations:

The artisans in Lecce are amazing. They make beautiful jewelry and do incredible things with papier mache.
Matera was truly incredible. We stayed for a night in a B&B in the Barisano and it was quite an experience.
The trullis in and around Alberobello are also amazing.
Trani was a great base for the last 3 days.

Overall, it was a very interesting trip

Did you drive or train?

Hi sssteve,

Thank you for your few observations. I look forward to reading your full report.

Did you feel your time in each area was enough? If you had 14 days, how would you distribute your time in each area?

Tell us more Steve---we need more info on Puglia on this forum and your reports are always so good. I bet you have some good pics as well.

Bob, we just got back on Tuesday morning, so I'm still sorting out pictures. I will post a few asap.

KY: we had a car the whole time.

zoe: If we had more time, the logical place to spend it would have been in the Gargano peninsula area, but in this case, that wouldn't have been too great an idea because of the less than ideal weather. Also, another day or so in the Trani area would have been very nice as well. Another point I didn't mention was that we enjoyed our visits to Brindisi and Bari. In both places, the weather was perfect and we had a great time.

Did you go to the cemetery in Lecce? That's very interesting, I think. It's not as big as Milan's, but still quite impressive. My wife's family comes from Galatone, which is nice place to visit, with some impressive churches. Also Gallipoli (not the famous one). There's a place on the coast near Galatone called Quattro Colonne. The name refers to the ruins of a fortress.

Bert: Nope - we didn't visit the Lecce cemetery. Actually, this was "art week" in Lecce and there were all kinds of arty things going on including hordes of school kids who were on school trips to see art in Lecce.

Did you find the driving to be difficult?

Can you post links to the hotels/B&Bs so we can get ready for the report on your site?

I always enjoy your reports and am looking forward to reading more, especially about Puglia.

No problem driving.

accomodations:

Lecce - Palazzo Rollo - a B&B with parking right in the center, about 50 feet from the piazza duomo

Matera - Domus del barisano - one of 50 B&B's located within the Barisano. It was fine, just hard to find.

Between Ostuni and Fasana - Masseria San Martino - nice masseria, completely renovated, run by a family that lived in canada for 30 years.

Trani - Hotel Regia - 4 stars, right next to the cathedral, very nice

SSteve:

I wonder if you have posted details of your Puglia trip on your site yet..eagerly awaiting a good read!

2 weeks in Scotland got in the way of finishing Puglia. Now I have to do both in parallel. I hope I'll finish Puglia in 2 weeks or so.

Thanks..you just answered my question on another post! I will look forward to reading and seeing the pics!

Can you advise the driving time between Lecce and Bari? What did you think of Palzzo Rollo? Did you stay in Bari or Brindisi and if so which would you recommend as an overnight stop en route home?

Looking forward to your trip report.

Have a question - did you gtake any cooking classess in Lecce?
Were the B&B places really nice?
Thank you!

Working on our trip for October right now..

STP

answers for stp and igor:

Pallazo Rollo was terrific. I even wrote a positive review on tripadvisor. No cooking classes, but we did take lots of fresh pasta home.

Our itinerary was as foolows:

fly into brindisi, 3 nights in Lecce - Pallazo Rollo
3 nights near ostuni - Masseria San martino
1 nights in matera - Domus del barisano -plenty of B&B's in the sassi
3 nights in trani - hotel regia

The above program worked fine for us. We visited both Brindisi and Bari, the first while we were in Lecce, and the latter while we were in trani.

Fresh pasta!!! How did you bring this home? What did you pack it in and did it survive the trip? I am very interested to hear your ideas since I shall be in Italy again in September and would love to bring home fresh pasta as well. Thanks in advance!!

Flame:

My wife is nuts about fresh pasta. On this trip, she bought about 4 kilos and carried it in her carry-on. If it doesn't sit around unrefrigerated, it's stays just fine for a few days until you get home. The best idea is to buy it as close to the end of the trip as possible.

We just had some of the pasta last night. We had some friends over and the pasta was absolutely great. In Puglia the average cost for the pasta was about 1 euro per kilo.

Flame:

Look for the vacuum packed packages of fresh pasta...you can usually find them in most supermarkets and stores specializing in pasta.

sssteve - thanks for the info. I will try it. Do you find that the supermarket vacuum packed packages are as good as, say, the kind you can buy in the special boutique type stores there though?

The difference is that in the super, you take what they have. In a specialty store, they can vacuum pack whatever it is you buy if they have the capability. The product is pretty much the same.