September / October 2021
This website contains short daily impressions of my Puglia trip with unedited photos.
Table of Contents
Day 1
Flight from Zurich to Brindisi
View of the South Tyrol
Croatian islands
Lecce
After arriving I was hungry and ate this wonderful octopus salad.
First view of the famous baroque church Basilica di Santa Croce
City impression
Day 2
Basilica di Santa Croce
Palazzo del Governo
Church Chiesa del Gesù
Church Chiesa di Santa Irene
Church Chiesa di Santa Chiara
A courtyard
Church Chiesa di San Matteo
Cattedrale Maria Santissima Assunta – the cathedral of Lecce
The crypt
Palazzo del Seminario
Nightlife
Day 3
Walk through Lecce
Restaurant La Bocca Bistrot
In the evening I ate an excellent pork belly at the restaurant La Bocca Bistrot near the city gate Porta San Biagio.
Day 4
Travel by train to Otranto.
Otranto
Cathedral Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunziata
The church is famous for its 12th century floor mosaic, which covers the entire church and depicts a tree of life and episodes from the Old Testament.
My dinner was a bread with raw tuna. So fresh …
Day 5
The church Chiesa di San Pietro
The Byzantine church of Saint Peter, dating back to the 9th or 10th century, was probably the first church of Otranto. It is famous for its wonderful frescoes.
Lago di Bauxite
A few kilometers outside the city is this now abandoned bauxite mining area.
Fronte Mare Restaurant
I enjoyed this excellent tuna fillet for dinner.
The city fortification
Day 6
I continued by train to Gallipoli.
Gallipoli
On an upcoming holiday, the statue of St. Agatha was carried into the church of St. Agatha.
Lazzaro & Caterina Restaurant
I love oysters!
A small portion of gourmet spaghetti
I had a spumone for dessert, an Italian specialty ice cream made up of layers of different colors and flavors, usually containing candied fruit and nuts.
An evening walk through Gallipoli
The statue of St. Agatha in her church
Day 7
A typical Puglian breakfast
Preparation of a wedding
The port
An olive oil mill
The olive oil from Gallipoli was in high demand as lamp oil all over Europe, because it hardly smelled.
The church Rettoria Santa Maria della Purità
Evening walk
Day 8
This diesel-powered vehicle is in service between Otranto and Gallipoli.
Taranto
Taranto is not a tourist town. Here I could get to know the real southern Italy, not dressed up for the tourists.
Fishermen on the quay, with the city’s huge steel mill in the background.
The archaeological museum of Taranto
All exhibits have been found in Taranto and its surroundings.
Trattoria Gente di Mare
Anchovies
Roman columns
Castello Aragonese
Day 9
Basilica Cattedrale San Cataldo vescovo
Wonderful!
I took the Flixbus from Taranto to Matera.
Matera
In 1952 the inhabitants were resettled from Matera because of the catastrophic hygienic conditions in the caves carved into the rock, the Sassi. Subsequently, Matera was uninhabited until the 1980s. New investment revitalized the historic town, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.
Osteria L’Arco
I was not able to move into the room yet. So I ordered this truffle pasta at the nearby osteria. An intense truffle smell reached my nose, which continued in my mouth. Heavenly!
Various Dali exhibits were displayed in the city.
A tomato soup at Tierra Restaurant
Day 10
On this day I explored the city further.
Michelin Star Restaurant ‘Vitantonio Lombardo’.
In the evening I ate at the Michelin-Star Restaurant ‘Vitantonio Lombardo’. The visit to the gourmet temple is described at this link.
Day 11
By train I traveled on to Bari.
Bari
Cattedrale di San Sabino
The crypt
Le Muse e il Mare Restaurant
Tuna
Day 12
Walk through the city of Bari
The fishing port
A fisherman who wanted to be photographed wearing my hat.
Basilica San Nicola
Day 13
Castello Svevo
The crypt of the Cattedrale di San Sabino
Day 14
A bus took me from Bari to Alberobello.
Alberobello
Truli houses built with easily removable roofs for tax reasons.
I stayed in this Truli house.
Day 15
Locorotondo
On the bus ride from Alberobello to Monopoli I had to change buses in Locorotondo, so I got to know the pretty little town.
Monopoli
Cathedral Maria Santissima della Madia
My Wine Ristorante
This unassuming restaurant served remarkable dishes!
Octopus
Sea Bass
72% Valrhona mousse with yuzu (a citrus species) and green tea ice cream
Outside of my order, the chef of the house brought me this celery ice cream. It tastes unusual, but it is a unique creation.
Night walk
Day 16
Chiesa Rettoria Santa Maria del Suffragio
Cattedrale Maria Santissima della Madia
A fisherman mending his net
I took the train from Monopoli to Ostuni.
Ostuni
Museum of Preclassic Civilizations of the Southern Murgia
27,000 year old skeletons have been found in the area.
Concattedrale Santa Maria Assunta in Cielo
City Hall in the colors of Italy
Day 17
A train took me from Ostuni to Brindisi.
Brindisi
This Roman column marks the end of the Via Appia. It connected Rome to Brindisi in the south and was one of the most strategically important roads in the Roman Empire.
Secca 48 Restaurant
Pasta colored with black ink of the squid. The white stripes are from the raw squid.
Assorted seafood
Tiramisu with hazelnuts
Day 18
This was the end of my Apulia trip.
Return journey to Switzerland
Return flight from Brindisi to Zurich with view over South Tyrol
After a week in Switzerland, I traveled again to Italy, this time to Venice.