Postcards from Puglia | Part 1

Back in September Chris and I spent a lazy, sun-drenched week pootling around Puglia – a much-needed break between leaving my job and taking up blogging full-time. I’ve finally found a few hours to go through the hundreds of photos I took, so I want to share a few snippets from this beautiful region of silvery olive groves, whitewashed hill towns and rugged cliffs, which occupies the heel of the Italian boot.

We started with two nights in Monopoli, set on the Adriatic coast an hour north of Brindisi Airport. Founded by the Greeks, invaded by the Romans, the Normans and the Byzantines and then annexed to Venice in the 1400s, it was once an important trading port. Today, it’s made up of a modern commercial zone, plus a sleepy old town dominated by a 16th-century castle.

Our base was Don Ferrante Dimore di Charme, an elegant 10-room hotel built into the ramparts. A late flight meant we arrived in darkness and went straight to sleep, but the next morning we flung open the shutters to find glorious sunshine and an uninterrupted sea view. It was such a treat to start the day with coffee in bed, gazing at the waves as the curtains fluttered in the breeze.

After breakfast by the jasmine-fringed pool, we spent the morning meandering around the old town’s tangle of laundry-strung alleys, past pots of cacti and dogs dozing in doorways. Every now and then we came across vestiges of Monopoli’s prosperous past: ornate balconies, fountain’ed piazzas, beautiful Baroque churches and intricately carved stone doorways.

For lunch, we tucked into mounds of seafood pasta at a tiny alfresco trattoria, before heading to the Porto Vecchio, where we watched fishermen mending their nets on the quayside.

In the evening, we wandered out in search of a place for dinner and stumbled across Komera, Cucina Nostra – a sophisticated restaurant in a glass-encased courtyard, where we feasted on squid, pizza and delicious tiramisu. Afterwards, we lingered over a bottle of wine on the hotel’s roof terrace, marvelling at distant lightening flashes from a storm far out at sea.

Our time in Monopoli was brief, but it was the perfect way to relax into our holiday before we ventured deeper into Puglia. More on that to follow next week…

Please note that the hotel link in this post is an affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission for the referral. You will never pay more when clicking on this link than you would by visiting the website directly. 

All photography by Abi Dare