Back from my holiday in Apulia I’m still there with my mind, whenever I have some time for it.
Having been just in Bari a few years ago I didn’t really know what I would have found there and just let me surprise. Listening to the advice of a good friend of mine living there since two years I took a small apartment not far from Ostuni. There at our disposal in a range of 30-50 km was the Itria Valley with its innumerable antique olive trees, its red grounds and its fairy villages.
Every day we chose a different place, took the car and reached it in 30-40 minutes, driving on the twisty country roads. Ostuni is the village we saw often, because of its closeness and its services. #tip: park in viale Pola near the supermarket and reach the historic center by walking – the parking places are nearly always free and aren’t expensive and it takes you less time and troubles to leave. It’s a nice town, but not our favourite 😉
Also the renown Locorotondo and Alberobello are fabulous. The former for its tiny circular white center and the latter for its totally famous and beautiful “trulli”. In my opinion they compensate each other somehow. If Locorotondo is totally quiet and you wouldn’t see anybody else than tourists strolling around, in Alberbello after the small antique center, you will find the bigger more touristic one, where sales people would invite you to visit their “trullo” and let you taste many specialties in order to sell you their products. These are gorgeous and people are nice, but after some time it was to much for me.
I bought some souvenirs, especially in the only “trullo” really having the terrace it promised outside of it. Many others have a notice about a terrace you wouldn’t find as you go inside 
As we took our time to see them all, we went also to Martina Franca, which is far bigger than you would think, watching from the panorama point in Locorotondo. It has more traffic, life, places and huge palaces and squares. Even here we parked outside the city center and saw it was the best solution to avoid chaos 😉
But our favourite – dulcis in fundo – remains Ceglie Messapica ❤ This is where my friend lives and it’s white, authentic, beautiful, vital and fascinating… Somebody told us that it was the original white town and that Ostuni took the title because it became more famous due to its proximity to the sea.
What we appreciated most were the architectonical beauty, the unknown tiny streets, the vitality and the genuineness of the people. Every night we went there we found a music show beginning at 10 pm, where also elder people would listen and dance with a bottle of beer (!) in their hand – #amazing!
People work hard and make fair prices for excellent products. I usually don’t promote restaurants, but in the case of the “Osteria Pugliese” it’s a must. A small white tavern, where you will have a small choice of fantastic Apulian specialties, preceded by a series of gorgeous starters which would already be sufficient for a meal 😉 and where you pay 30 euros for two persons having the starters (about 10 small dishes), one further course (noodle, fritto misto) each, water, wine and homemade amaro alle erbe (spirit) with typical cookies. We went there at least four times 😀
Last but not least the tiny Cisternino, which is also worth seing and has many little shops where you can buy pastries, cheese (mozzarella di bufala, burrata, etc.) and enjoy the lifestyle of a small active town.
…to be continued…
Simply Life 