Bella Puglia

Because we'd had enough of flying vast distances to experience the sun, Paul and I decided on a Summer 2017 Italian retreat. In true Italian style, we stuck to the coastline, largely shying away from the baking-hot cities (and mistakes of summers past).

The beauty of Puglia is two-fold: one, it's actually beautiful--crystal clear waters, delicious cuisine, wonderful people; two, it's devoid of the hordes of foreign tourists. I know I'm one of them. I know this is a snobbish thing to say. But other beautiful parts of Italy have become overrun with bus after bus of camera-foisting, hop out, tick it off the list travellers. So being greeted with the summer Italian set enjoying their 3pm, 7pm, 11pm gelatos felt a bit more authentic.

Our journey around the heel of the boot took us all over. From the city of Bari, home to a plethora of nonnas folding their versions of ear-shaped oriecchietti pasta and letting it bake in the sunshine, to the stunning beaches of Otranto, Puglia did not disappoint.

Train travel is quick and cheap in Italy and this worked to our advantage. We based ourselves in Bari to start, moving on after two days to the tiny town of Polignano a Mare, home to the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. More on that later. From there, we day tripped to Monopoli and Ostuni, walled wonders equipped with side of the city walls beaches. Making our way down the coast, we based ourselves in Lecce (day tripping to Otranto) before making our way to our final B&B stop in Gallipoli (and day tripping to Maldive di Salento).

Trains in the cities between beaches suffered from a bit of Italian drama--two different companies own the train lines; times between services don't match up and some towns are only served once daily by the train. Enter the Salento Summer Bus, a delightful network of inexpensive coaches that run from beach to beach several times a day making Puglia without a car entirely doable.

To say we were impressed was an understatement. The pictures speak for themselves.