Highlights of Puglia

Our tour starts today in the Adriatic port city of Bari. The old town area of Bari Vecchia is located next to the harbour and is a tangled maze of old streets. One of the main highlights is the Basilica of San Nicola, which legend has it, contains some of the bones of jolly old Saint Nick. For those arriving on time, our tour leader plans to meet you in the hotel reception at 6pm for a welcome meeting and for those that wish, there is the chance to go out for dinner. There are no other activities planned today, so you're free to arrive in Bari at any time. Should you miss the welcome meeting, our tour leader will inform you of any essential information as soon as you catch up. Airport transfers aren't included in this tour but it's easy to reach our hotel in Bari. From the airport, there's a regular train service every 20-30 minutes to Bari Central Station with a journey time of around 20 minutes. Our hotel in Bari is located just five minutes walk from the station. Tickets cost €5. If you'd prefer to take a taxi, there's a rank outside the terminal building - a taxi should cost around €25-30. If your flight arrives earlier in the day, you might like to take a walk along the Lungomare seaside promenade. In Puglia, the food revolves around local produce, so the dishes on offer will vary depending on what's in season. A lot of the cuisine is vegetable or cheese based and of course, they make good use of the oil produced from the 60 million olive trees in the region. Over the next week, you can try a range of delicious dishes like fried polenta, tubs of ricotta, mozzarella balls stuffed with cream, orecchiette pasta (known as small ear pasta due to its shape), which is normally served with a sauce made from turnip tops, meat and rice-stuffed peppers or a large array of seafood dishes. The wine is also delicious, with Primitivo red wine being a popular choice.

This morning, we'll leave Bari and drive to Altamura. The city is famous for its bread and we'll get the chance to try it along with a selection of other specialities like taralli savoury biscuits flavoured with fennel seeds, focaccia, pizza and wine. Pane di Altamura is a very filling bread and loaves on average weigh a kilo and traditionally would have been eaten by workers out in the fields. The bread is cooked in a 'forni' stone oven using oak wood. Next, we'll have a guided tour of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Castel del Monte. It's one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Southern Italy and is an unusual octagonal shape with a tower in each corner and no roof over the large central courtyard. The architectural design suggests Arabic influences as well as more classical Italian features. It was built by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and was of huge importance to the region. It is believed to have been a cultural centre for ancient scholars coming from all over the world and each part of the castle conceals philosophic and alchemical meanings within its unique design. Later this afternoon, we'll arrive in Matera, which is just over the regional border in Basilicata and where we will spend the next two nights. The town is impressively located on the side of a gorge eroded by the Gravina River and is famous for its ancient sassis, a Unesco-listed troglodyte quarter, which originates from prehistoric times. Stepping into the city is like stepping back in time, and it feels as though the cobbled narrow streets and meandering buildings have changed little over the past 7,000 years. It's a place that has to be seen to be believed and we have the wonderful experience of staying in a hotel within these ancient Sassi cave dwellings. Please note, depending on the size of the group we may be accommodated across two properties, a five-minute walk apart.

This morning, a local guide will take us on a walking tour of the Sassi Quarter which is split into two halves - Sassi Caveoso and Sassi Barisano, with the cathedral sitting between them. The city is so unchanged over the centuries that it has frequently been used as a film set for biblical scenes. It's hard to believe it now, but in the 1950s Matera was an embarrassment to the Italian authorities, as many families were living in one-room caves, in poor conditions and poverty was rife. The families were helped and re-housed and the city cleaned up it's now a treasured historic city that was the European Capital of Culture in 2019. After spending the morning exploring the cobbled lanes, rock-carved churches and caves, we'll have the afternoon free to discover more, or you might like to take a train to neighbouring Gravina (the journey is around 45 minutes each way). Gravina is a historic town that has retained much of its character. The buildings here line the sides of a deep river gorge with a Roman bridge connecting them. The highlight of the town however is the Gravina Sotterranea, which is an underground network of meandering passageways that run beneath the city through caves and cellars where you can find rock-carved churches under the houses above. This remarkable underground labyrinth has only recently been discovered.

This morning, we'll drive to an agriturismo in Putignano or in the surrounding area for a cheese tasting. Agriturismos are traditional country farms that have opened up their doors to visitors, everything here is homemade. After seeing how the cheese is produced and exploring the farm and gardens, we'll sample their delicious food, which usually includes freshly braided mozzarella. Our first stop in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed town of Alberobello is the Cantina Albea Winery and Museum. After having a guided tour and learning about the different wines of Puglia, we'll get to sample the award-winning wines that they produce. The small town of Alberobello is famous for its unusual trulli round houses with their whitewashed dry stone walls and pointed 'witches hat' tiled roofs and we spend the next two nights in these unique buildings. After our wine tasting, we'll take a pleasant walk through the Trullis to our hotel. Trullis or trullos as they're also known are either built singly or in groups of up to five which would have originally been occupied by a single family. After checking in to our Trullis, our tour leader will take us on a walk of the town to learn about the history and to help us get our bearings. The town is divided into two districts - Rione Aia Piccola and Rione Monti. On our walk, we'll see Trullo Sovrano, built by a wealthy priest in the 18th century it is the only two-floor Trulli house and it's now a museum, and the Trullo Church with its domed towers and curved windows looks like a stretched trulli and was built far later in 1927. This evening is free for you to experience more of the town. There are several restaurants and shops and typically Italian bars along the main street of Largo Martellotta.

Today is free for you to relax among the Trullis or to travel further afield for more sightseeing. You could take the train (around 10 minutes each way) to the pretty town of Locorotondo. Although it's only a short distance from Alberobello a completely different building style has been used with tall, narrow rectangular buildings packed together with their tiled gable roofs and whitewashed walls. The formation of them and their hilltop location makes the town resemble a white fort. Alternatively, you might like to take the train to the Castellana Caves (taking about 35 minutes each way). You can join an English-speaking guided tour of one of the most amazing natural wonders in Puglia and see the array of stalactites, stalagmites and fossils that can be found in this underground grotto which started to form about 90 million years ago. Or perhaps you'd like to spend the day on the coast and take a taxi to Monopoli, which is approximately a 30-minute drive away, and home to defensive sea walls, a cathedral and even a castle. The tall white buildings and rocky walls are offset by the bright blue waters of the Adriatic Sea dotted with traditional fishing boats and lined with narrow sandy beaches from where you can take a dip in the sea.

We'll leave the trullis and head to Masseria Frantoio Ipogeo, which has an underground olive press originally created by monks in the limestone caves that form here naturally. The monks realised the importance of keeping the olive oil at a constant temperature for it to last and to get the best flavour, and the caves offered the perfect solution. We'll drive on to the historic seafront town of Otranto where our tour leader will take us to visit the cathedral to see the amazing 'tree of life' mosaic floor and to have a brief orientation walk through the maze of the narrow alleys. After free time for lunch, there's the chance to take a rugged coastal walk to the old bauxite quarry lake before returning back to Otranto. The almost turquoise waters of the lake are surrounded by the red earth of the old quarry walls, which makes it a very photogenic spot. Along the way to the lake, there are spots ideal for swimming or paddling along the coast. The route takes around an hour each way, covering a total distance of seven kilometres. If you don't fancy joining the walk, then you can further explore the town or relax on the sandy beaches. Later this afternoon, we'll drive on to Lecce, which is nicknamed the 'Florence of the south' due to its rich Baroque heritage seen in the city's palaces, churches and statues made from the local cream-coloured limestone. This evening is free for you to have dinner and explore the city.

We'll start today with a guided walking tour of Lecce to see the Basilica di Santa Croce, Piazza del Duomo (cathedral square) and the cathedral itself. The Baroque basilica took over two centuries to construct and has a richly decorated facade with carved figures and topped with a large rose window. Following our tour the rest of the day is free. In the city, you'll find a Roman amphitheatre, a statue of Saint Oronzo, which is said to have healing powers and the Triumphal Arch, which is one of the three main gates into the old centre. You might choose to visit the Museo Faggiano, which will give you an even greater insight into the city's long history.

The trip ends after breakfast at our hotel in Lecce. There are no activities planned today, so you're free to depart from Lecce at any time. If you'd like an airport transfer today, you'll need to depart from Bari International Airport - Karol Wojtyla (BRI), which is just over two hours by train. If your flight is departing early, then you'll take the train to Bari Central Station with our tour leader at around 6am and then continue by train to Bari Airport. If your flight isn't departing until later, you can still travel to Bari Central Station where there are luggage storage facilities at the station. You're then free to go into the city to explore independently. Alternatively, you can choose to spend longer in Lecce in the morning and then travel by train to Bari Central and on to Bari Airport at a time of your choosing. Luggage storage facilities are available at our hotel. Our tour leader will give you your train ticket for the journey to the airport and advise you on when the trains will be departing. Please note, according to the current timetable (which is subject to change), the earliest you can reach Bari Airport by train is 7.25am and the latest is 11.40pm. If your flight is departing earlier in the morning, please speak to our sales team who can arrange a private road transfer for you at an additional cost.