Natalie's Adventures
Just a few of my favorite places and how to get there. Also follow my adventures on Instagram.
7/18/2024 0 Comments Puglia, ItalyIn July 2024 Natalie and Becca decided to take a 9 day, unplanned, road trip around the somewhat remote region of Puglia, Italy to enjoy the beautiful beaches and great food. Beach clubs, usually called Lidos, line the coast and are inexpensive and uncrowded, the best way to enjoy the beaches. This is a region of Italy that almost only Italians vacation in. Besides in the main tourist areas of towns, no one speaks English. We quickly learned how to read an Italian menu and get around with a little Italian. Get ready for a big culture shock as the Italians literally never feel any urgency, and patience is a trait all visitors need here. Hotels are only 100-200€ per night for two people. Margarita pizzas are 6€, meat pizzas are 10-12€, and entrees, called secondo, second course, are about 20€. And entrees means appetizers in Italian.
We flew into Bari and rented a car. Please make sure to rent a car directly from a car rental company that has an office and cars at the airport. Do not rent a car from a third party website and do not rent from a rental company that has to shuttle you away from the airport to their lot. Polignano a Mare, a very cute picturesque town to explore. We spent two nights at Hotel Covo dei Saraceni, in Polignano a Mare. It was a great hotel, great location, great breakfast, and free parking in a lot nearby with a tuktuk ride to hotel. We went to the beach club; Cala San Giovanni, 78€ for two people. The hotel called us a tuktuk for transportation, 10€ each way. We had an amazing first night Italian dinner at Bella 'Mbriana, get there by 6pm to get a table or make a reservation, great pizza. In Monopoli we spent two nights at Masseria Grappa, 10 minutes south of Monopoli. This hotel is looks like a castle, was so relaxing, only 8 rooms, great breakfast, and have the staff make you a dinner reservation at their amazing family restaurant nearby La Locanda Felisiano, it was an amazing home cooked, countryside dinner experience. We explored the town of Monopoli, with great ocean views. And spent a day at the beach club; Lido Sabbiadoro. Alberobello is a must visit day trip, for exploring the Trulli Architecture. It was very picturesque, and lots of cute tourist shopping. We didn't stay here because we just drove to our next destination after. Santa María de Leuca was two hour drive south and Santa María de Leuca is a tiny fisherman town at the very bottom of the heel of the boot of Italy. One night at Hotel l'Approdo, which had a great pool, good breakfast, great ocean views. We took a boat tour with Colaci Nautica, right across the street, and had a great 3 hour tour of the coastal cliffs. It was 30€ per person, and no one spoke English, but the driver played some amplified tour descriptions for us in English. Dinner at Smare, great seafood. Then we drove up the Eastern coast to Le Macine. We wished we had time to spend a day at one of these beach clubs: Lido Sorgente or Bango Marino. We stayed at Hotel Santa Lucia, with a great pool, although we wouldn't really recommend the rooms at this hotel. Then we drove back up north and explored the rather quiet, large town of Lucca, good big store shopping in the area near Zara. We stayed outside of town at the lively GINKO Music Hotel. This pool was amazing! The music was so loud, quite the party, not so much relaxing with the super loud DJ but fun pool dancing. We stayed there on a Sunday so the music stopped at 7:30pm but they said the music goes all night on the weekends. The receptionist made us a dinner reservation at Ristorante La Conceria, and it was amazing. Don't let the drive and industrial neighborhood scare you, this was one of the best meals we had in Italy For Bari we stayed about 20 minutes north of Bari, for two nights at the small resort hotel, Hotel Riva de Sol. This hotel included access to its own private beach club to perfectly enjoy the beautiful, sparking Italian sea. The pool was not noteworthy and the restaurant was a disappointment but the ocean water was amazing. We spent an evening exploring the bustling city of Bari and a beautiful last evening in Italy.
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