Puglia – Italy’s southern jewel
A very charming Hotel welcomes Ernesto and me (Raffaele) as our tour start Hotel in Bari. Since parking space in Bari is very limited, we are happy to have a space in the hotel's underground car park where we can make the final preparations for the perfect e-bikes. The hotel will be branded with the Edelweiss Beach Flag and one of our e-bikes to welcome our guests.
Together with our dear guest we could explore the unique city center of Bari and have a tasty dinner. We felt very comfortable together and we shared some good laugh. We even got an unexpected party crasher on our first Foto. Must have been one of the other guests ;-)
We start our adventure with full motivation. First we have to get through the city traffic out of Bari, but immediately afterwards the route takes us through a great landscape. There is so much to see. Olive groves, the Murge plateau, old quarries and much more. Puglia shows off its most beautiful side. The highlight, however, is Matera, where we make our next stop.
We spend our first rest day in Matera, a city like from 1001 nights. Some of us are happy to be able to sleep a little longer. In the morning Amy takes us through the Sassi and explains the rich history to us. Of course we are also active on rest days. We hike to the Bellavista viewpoint to admire the city from the other side of the Gravina Gorge. And in the evening we go to a typical Sassi restaurant, carved deeply into the limestone.
After our well-deserved rest day, we pedal again. Our destination is Alberobello, the city with hundreds of trullis. But there are still a few highlights and a little surprise along the way :-)
Today we enjoy the typical landscape of the Altopiano delle Murge. Undulating flower meadows pass us by and we admire the many olive trees. It's fascinating how crooked some of them have grown. And it's hard to imagine that some of them are up to 1000 years old. In the ceramics town of Grottaglie we learn why the women here wear mustaches??? We spend our night in a masseria in Torricella. There is complete peace here. And we enjoy that after a long day of riding. Maria and her team treat us to dinner so that our carbohydrate storages are filled for the next day.
And we continue towards the sea. We soon see the first defensive tower on the horizon and know that the beaches of the Ionian Sea are not far away. Turquoise blue water, picturesque sandy beaches, rocky coastline, we stop again and again to take photos. Highlight of the day is the "Museo della Memoria e dell'accoglienza". Giulia describes to us very personally the story where many Jews found shelter in the region in the post-war years and then immigrated to Palestine. In the evening we take another walk in Gallipoli´s historical center and visit a small underground oil mill.
On our way to Otranto we pass Maglie and view the statue of Aldo Moro a farmer Italian politician who was born there.
We spend our second well-deserved rest day in Otranto. But even today we can't do without a little sport. We do a little "Giro" and visit an abandoned mining site, the Cava di Bauxite. We continue along the spectacular coastline to the Faro di Punta Paliscia lighthouse. Once back at Masseria Bandino, there is still enough time to relax by the pool. In the evening we enjoy our dinner in the small but fine seafood restaurant Oste Locanda Marinara.
Everyone is sitting at breakfast today with a bit of sadness. It will be our last day of driving together. But we are also looking forward to this beautiful section. We head north along the Adriatic coast. Beautiful rock formations and wild cliffs await us along the way. Only the weather doesn't seem to be kind to us. But we don't let a few small showers spoil our mood and cycle to Lecce, the baroque city with its incredible cathedral. At the final evening we reflect on our experiences again and we all agree: WHAT A GREAT TRIP Like tour guides (Ralph and Ernst) we would like to thank the "Colorado Girls" again, we had a great time with you :-) See you next time