To be honest, the small hilltop towns are starting to blur in my mind. Cisterna may be my favorite to date, because it’s a lovely small village that seemed relatively untouristed. We did a quick walk through the narrow passage ways, most lined with residences or the occasional taverna but few tacky tourist shops. (I found another gorgeous shop with ceramics.)
There are also several overlooks with spectacular views of the valle d’Itria , dotted with trulli complexes, some dripping with purple or red borgenvia. Dirck navigated some crazy scenic narrow lanes today, lined with high dry stone walls, in front of vineyard and olive trees. And he drove on the unscenic autostrada along the sea, which was a bit hairy at times, with cars entering from the right on lanes that soon ended so they had to merge, leaving us unclear how to get out of their way. We later noted they seem to stop before merging.
Ostuni is said to be the most famous “white city“ with daily limestone and plaster buildings but it was too touristy for us. Fortunately we found Fave e Fogghje, a fantastic restaurant away from the crowds, where we dined on Puglian specialties while listening to rockabilly tunes and chatting with a sweet young couple visiting from Verona. (The woman was from Sardinia, which she recommended we visit!) We also met a Canadian/Austrian couple traveling with their 8 month old baby Emma. We’ve been surprised to find several parents traveling with babies or elementary school age kids.
We have pugliaguys.com to thank for our restaurant find. An an American woman yesterday in Martina Franca who highly recommended the website. It’s full of itineraries and restaurants and even parking suggestions. Invaluable!!
We tried several classic Apulian dishes: Fave E Fogghe (broad bean purée with greens sautéed in oil and garlic…looked like creamy mashed potatoes. Delicous.), Bombette Arrosto (Double-cooked pork bombette stuffed with pancetta and caciocavallo cheese with sautéed potatoes and stewed turnip tops). Too much for me, and almost for meat-loving dirck and Orecchiette con le cime di raps (the local pasta shaped like little ears with broccoli rabe and some sort of light bright green sauce . delicous.)
Dessert was a remarkable concoction: Mousse Puglia (With lemon jelly, chocolate glaze and black cherry on olive oil biscuit). meant to look like an apple, complete with a chocolate stem. It was a white mouse and cake mix, coated in a violet cherry glaze with blobs of tart lemon curd hidden inside on a bed of crushed almonds and chocolate. (This was the first place we saw horse in the salumi counter. It looked like cacciatore pork sausage but I was told otherwise.
We drove to the Adriatic resort towns of Polignano a Mare and Monopoli but didn’t do them justice. We didn’t have the energy to navigate another city center. We did walk along the west end of the seaside walk in Polignano, above rocky cliffs with the occasional small speedboat with tourists looking at the cliffs from the water.
I have not found the Adriatic Sea towns as spectacular as say, amalfi coast or cinque terrace or Sicily. (We visited some further north two years ago, driving from Urbino.) They are more wild and feel more desolate at times, with crumbling stone structures or worn concrete high rises. (But again, we didn’t make it to the more historic and famous parts of these Puglia towns so don’t trust me on this.)
TakeBetsywithyou 