Italia, mi amore...Like an experienced lover, Italy captivates you, using the best seduction techniques. Being in Italy stimulates all your senses. The bright sun, the smell of thick, strong espresso, the language so melodic that worse curses sound like declaration of love (not in every language you can combine three words, one of which is male reproductive organ, to express your excitement about some lovely view), the vivid colors of ripe, juicy fruit on the street market, the wine that makes your head spin and of course the food. The food that combines thousands of years of history, made slowly, by hand, with love and passion that only Italians possess (ever heard Italian speaking about cooking?), which doesn't serve the purpose to fill you up, but to give you an almost sensual pleasure.
For me Italy is the best antidepressant ever invented. And though I am well aware that not everything is perfect there I try to visit Italy at least once a year to keep my "sanity". This year choice fell on the mysterious and remote "heel" of Italy - Apulia (Puglia).
To my own embarrassment the only thing I knew about Apulia was that there is a valley with cute, cone shaped stone buildings - Trulli, which I once saw in travel magazine. After one week and around two thousand kilometers, I can assure you that Apulia has so much to offer. Still not so touristy as some other Italian regions, it is a perfect destination for relaxing and affordable vacation.
Getting In
Direct Ryanair flight to Bari and the possibility to save on the plane ticket was one of the reasons to chose Apulia as destination. The flight itself was quite an adventure. With my fare share of internal and international flights I have never seen flight attendants use a plane microphone to sell the cosmetics and even better - to spray perfumes on the passengers in the closed cabin to improve their sales. Another "highlight" of the flight - Italian Menu, where each plate had some Italian family member in its name (Pasta della Nonna, Pizza di la Mamma...). I guess it is intended as part of "Italian" experience...
Puglia is a place I would definitely like to visit again. Here are my reasons why:
Trulli
Those charming architectural gems more suitable for family of fairy tail dwarfs than to be used as agricultural storehouse or shelter are one of the Apulia landmarks. You can spot trulli all around The Itria Valley: from half ruined sheds in the countryside to the modern SPA hotels build in Trullo style. The best place to see Trulli is UNESCO World Heritage site - Alberobello. If you fancy to have a "living in trullo" experience - there are plenty of hotels and vacation rental options to choose from.
The most popular theory about the origins of such a unique architecture - property tax avoidance: Trullo could be easily disassembled in case of a tax inspector visit. Taxes must be very high back then, because to me re-building trullo looks like a lot of work!
Food
To really know the culture of the place you have to try its food. Usually each region is famous for something: sometimes it is cheese, sometimes some kind of cured meat or maybe pasta type? There are so many things that are worth trying in Apulia that I don't know where to start.
Surrounded by Ionian and Adriatic seas Apulia is sea food paradise. The seafood is so fresh and so deliciously made that I (biggest meat lover ever exist) completely forgot about meat existence for the whole week. Tunfish Crudo (Italian for tartar), Fried Octopus sandwich, Shrimps prepared in salt and served in the best quality olive oil, stuffed mussels...to name just a few...
Supplier of significant part of agricultural products, Apulia is also considered to be Italy's garden. Red fertile soil, fresh and salty sea breeze, plenty of sunny days - all are secret ingredients for excellent quality produce that doesn't require any complex preparation methods. Apulia food is very simple but incredibly good.
Don't like vegetables or seafood? Not a problem! Apulia is famous for its bread and pasta too! Probably half of top 20 breads of Italy come from Apulia. Taralli Pugliesi (small round crackers), Focaccia al Pomodoro (Focaccia bread with tomatoes), Ciambella, Pagnotta Foggiana (crusty outside and soft inside bread baked in wood oven) are perfect to be eaten with olive oil as a starter or part of the hearty Puglia meal.
Altogether we didn't have one bad meal while in Puglia.
Beaches
Surrounded by the sea from both sides Apulia has beaches for all tastes. Some - with turquoise water and white sand look little bit like Caribbean. Traveling off-season gave us opportunity to enjoy some of the best beaches in privacy one would never have in summer. But unfortunately the sea was too cold and turbulent for swimming.
Nature
Nature in Apulia is beautiful and diverse. While driving through Apulia we encountered kilometers and kilometers of fruit trees: wines and green wheat fields with splashes of red poppy seeds; endless sea coasts with blue-green water and yellow sand: half of millennium old olive trees and one of the oldest surviving Italian forest - Umbria.
Architecture
Trulli, Romanesque Churches, Baroque and Medieval architecture all belong to Puglia architecture mishmash. There are lots of important historical monuments, UNESCO World Heritage sites, religious pilgrimage places for history lovers to visit in Apulia. And so rarely in our days you can do it without waiting in lines for hours.
Apulia towns
Driving along the coast and stopping in all the towns and cities on our way was great way to learn about Apulia. Every town has some unique feature, color, smell or dish that will be translated in a special experience or memory and will make you richer. One of the things I admired about Apulia was its people. After several "burns" in touristy Italian cities like Rome (90 EUR for 4 sandwiches and 4 beers, or 20 EUR ice cream) I was expecting some kind of hoax. To my excitement every single time good people of Puglia proved me wrong. No hidden costs, no overpriced beverages, no tricky business...Even more, our host in one of the vacation rentals gave us tour in his hometown and write down places to visit while we were staying in other cities and other hotels!
I have no reasons not to recommend Apulia as a vacation destination, except one - I selfishly want it to stay so pure and undiscovered as it is now, so I can visit it again.