Puglia – Italy’s southern jewel

Day 1: Arrival in Bari
Welcome to the south of Italy! At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the group meets at the starting hotel in Bari and is welcomed by the tour guides.

Day 2: Bari - Matera
We could easily have spent a few more days in lively Bari. But there are too many interesting things waiting for us. The batteries are charged, let's go! The lonely plateau of the Murgia National Park awaits us. Our destination for the day is Matera. The city with its Sassi is a World Heritage Site and is located in the neighboring province of Basilicata.

Day 3: Matera
Matera is one of the oldest cities in the world and is absolutely unique because of the "Sassi", the residential caves where as recently as the 1950s over half the inhabitants lived in desperate poverty. Today the Sassi are a tourist attraction and popular movie set, most recently for James Bond. Close to the city are the regional park of the "Murgia Materana", a wild karst mountain range full of caves, and the San Giuliano protected area with the lake of the same name. So, there is plenty of variety.

Day 4: Matera - Alberobello
We go back to Apulia, to where it is most "Apulian". The province is world famous for its round huts with pointed roofs called trulli. Nowhere are there so many and so beautiful trulli as in Alberobello. On the way there we ride through endless fields and past sleepy villages - very relaxing!

Day 5: Alberobello - Torricella
Around Alborello there are many beautiful old towns and lots of wide- open countryside. We cycle south with pleasure, skirting the "little sea" near Taranto and finally reaching the south coast of the arid Salento peninsula, where we take up quarters in Torricella.

Day 6: Torricella - Gallipoli
The sea will be our constant companion today. Beaches, bays, sand dunes, medieval villages, and watchtowers, even an old salt works can be seen, where salt was mined for centuries. Today it is a protected area. Our destination is Gallipoli, which was once founded by Greek colonists and today impresses us with its picturesque old town and mighty castle. The sunsets here are incomparable!