Earlier this year I spent 6 weeks solo travelling in Europe, and I was delighted that at the end of the trip my mum and my sister came out to spend a week exploring Puglia with me, followed by a long weekend in Naples with my boyfriend. I’d never been so far south in Italy before and Puglia had been on my mum’s wishlist for a while! From Florence I took the high-speed train down to Naples (nearly 500km/300 miles in just 3 hours) where I stayed a night, and then a few more trains from Naples across to Bari. My family flew from the UK into Bari airport to meet me, where we picked up a hire car for the week.

Oria

I drove us an hour and a half to the gorgeous Villa Otillia just outside of Oria, a charming peach-coloured B&B run by a lovely Swedish and Italian couple, who welcomed us with a delicious al-fresco lunch. The villa had lovely vintage furniture, lots of artwork on the walls, beautiful Indian bed linens, a pretty garden and two friendly dogs! It was so lovely to catch up with my family and have travel companions once more.

Villa Otillia

To explore Puglia you definitely need a car to get around, and we spent the next 7 days exploring the many beautiful towns in the area and absorbing all the history. We started with Alberobello, famous for its high concentration of trulli – cute cone-shaped limestone buildings, which you also see scattered around the nearby countryside. We enjoyed wandering around the town, admiring the views across the rooftops, and exploring the Trullo Sovrano museum. My sister bought some lovely pottery and we sampled some gelato too. There are even trulli houses and hotels that you can stay in should you wish. Afterwards we headed to the very pretty Locorotundo for a mosey round and enjoyed various delicious sharing plates with a stunning view of the countryside.

Alberobello

Locorotundo

The next day we set off for Matera, which like Alberobello is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, renowned for its cave dwellings and various buildings and churches carved into the rock. It was a spectacular sight. We wandered around the city and admired the 17^th century frescoes inside a church, and stepped into a reconstructed cave dwelling to see what it would’ve once been like to live there. After more delicious food in the sunshine we drove 15 minutes around to the hill opposite Matera to take in the view of the city from afar, and glimpse the once-inhabited cave dwellings.

Matera

The following day we stayed more local and drove to Grottaglie, a town known for its extensive ceramics quarter. There’s a whole street lined with pottery shops and studios, and we had a delightful time browsing the wares, spotting some of the talented ceramicists at work and making some purchases ourselves. It was cool to think that people from all over Italy and beyond come here to source beautiful products for their shops direct from the makers. We then had a tasty lunch at Tutti Frutti in San Pietro in Bevagna, a colourfully decorated spot serving delicious Italian food including fresh seafood pasta and fritto misto, a great recommendation from the villa owners. We spent the afternoon relaxing at the beach – I’d love to come back in the warmer summer months! There are so many fantastic beaches in Puglia for example in Polignano a Mare where I’d love to visit another time.

Grottaglie

San Pietro in Bevagna

Lecce was our next destination, also known as ‘the Florence of the south’, and it was indeed a beautiful city featuring lots of ornate baroque architecture and elaborate church facades, all made from pale coloured stone. We enjoyed wandering around and rode a lift up to the bell tower of the duomo to soak it all in. We also sampled Lecce’s famous Pasticciotto, delicious warm oval-shaped shortcrust pastry filled with custard – heavenly!

Lecce

Pasticciotto, Lecce

During our last couple of days in Puglia we visited Ostuni, full of pretty whitewashed buildings, and historic Monopoli on the coast. I shared the driving with my mum throughout the week and was certainly glad I’d already practiced my European driving in Croatia! We explored the old town of Bari with its winding narrow streets, laundry drying from the balconies and locals making fresh orecchiette (ear shaped pasta). The Romanesque style churches and cathedrals felt quite different to the others we’d seen elsewhere but were equally striking. We also visited the Grotte di Castellana, a vast underground network of limestone caves that were quite remarkable. We enjoyed some delicious dinners in Oria too. Puglia has so much to offer and I was so glad that we all had a brilliant time.

Ostuni

Monopoli

Bari

Bari

After parting ways with my mum and sister I stayed a night in Bari before heading back across to Naples. The train network in the south is not as well developed as further north, though a high-speed rail line linking the two coasts is currently under construction. I experienced bus replacements, train delays and a 5-hour train standstill, which made me appreciate how smooth the rest of my transport experiences had been throughout the trip!

Naples felt like a real contrast to much of the rest of Italy – grittier, full of bustle, with motorbikes zipping along narrow cobbled streets and endless laundry hanging from the windows. It was so lovely to be reunited with my boyfriend and we caught up over delicious tomato bruschetta. We explored the extensive Archaeological Museum which had beautiful sculptures, incredible mosaics, a scale model of Pompeii and various artefacts and frescoes from Pompeii too, where we’d be visiting later in our trip.

Naples

Archaeological Museum, Naples

The following day we joined a 30 minute tour of the Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest continuously operating theatre in Europe with a truly beautiful horseshoe-shaped auditorium and 6 rows of boxes! We took part in a wonderful pizza workshop, making dough from scratch, shaping the dough and adding our toppings before watching them cook in the huge round pizza oven. It was really interesting to learn about the techniques and the ingredients – Naples is renowned for its fluffy pizza and we made sure to sample plenty during our time there! We also explored the Royal Palace which had many elaborately decorated rooms.

Teatro di San Carlo

Pizza workshop, Naples

Royal Palace, Naples

One of the highlights of our trip was our visit to Pompeii, a 40 minute train ride from Naples. I was completely in awe of the scale of the site. We saw the forum, the amphitheatres, the baths, tavernas, shopping streets and lots of pretty villas with beautiful mosaics, frescoes and courtyards. It takes a while to get your head around the fact that you’re only seeing these incredibly well-preserved structures due to such a catastrophic and tragic volcanic eruption. I’d like to return to Naples to visit Herculaneum, another ancient city left in ruins from Vesuvius, and also visit the nearby island Ischia with its volcanic thermal spas and the colourful smaller fishing island Procida.

The forum, Pompeii

Pompeii

Frescoes in Pompeii

That concludes my European adventure. I definitely have a renewed appreciation for how much there is to see on our doorstep, and I’m already excited about wherever I might choose to explore next! I’d love to hear if you know of any underrated European destinations I should visit?

Alexa

P.S. If you enjoyed reading this post, why not have read about the rest of my solo travels in Europe: Western Balkans and Italy.

Header photo: Ostuni, Puglia