Travelling TT's: Puglia; La Dolce Vita!

Lecce (10^th - 13^th July)

When we first arrived in Lecce, early morning from an overnight bus ride we were greeted by a beautiful arch and an obelisk. This was just the start of many beautiful sights in this lovely city.

Lecce's obelisk

The beautiful entrance to Lecce's old town

Wandering through the lovely streets in Lecce, we were amazed with the amount of beautiful buildings and churches. We lost count of how many churches are in the city, but visited a few that we thought were the most impressive.

Basilica di Santa Croce, exterior

Basilica di Santa Croce, interior

The church of Santi Niccolò e Cataldo, exterior

The church of Santi Niccolò e Cataldo, interior

Basilica Church of St. Giovanni Battista, interior

We wandered through the park which was just outside of Lecce's old town, and really enjoyed sitting here for a while and people watching.

While in Lecce, we tried some traditional pastries for breakfast and enjoyed them with a strong espresso.

Crema Cornetto

Rustico

The amphitheatre in the middle of the old city was still in great condition and a lovely focal point in the middle of a busy square filled with restaurants, gelataria's and cafe's.

Lecce was a stunning city, we thoroughly enjoyed our time here and were constantly amazed with the beautiful architecture.

We had a delicious antipasto platter at a lovely restaurant in a quiet square in Lecce. Beautiful Italian meats and cheeses were presented beautifully and tasted amazing.

Gallipoli (Day trip from Lecce)

We wandered around the island of Gallipoli, admiring the crystal clear water and enjoying the beautiful sunny day we had!

There are a few lovely spots for swimming here, and the water was nice and warm.

We had a delicious lunch in the back streets of the city, and watched people pass by.

We finished our day in Gallipoli with a delicious gelato!

Bari (14^th - 15^th July)

We were only in Bari for a short time, so made the most of our afternoon here with a walk through the city. We visited the port which was quite small but charming.

We took a walk through the old town of Bari, stopping first in St Nicholas Basilica and then Bari Cathedral. Both were impressive however we found that St Nicholas Basilica had a little more charm than the newly renovated Bari Cathedral.

Bari Cathedral, exterior

Bari Cathedral, interior

St Nicholas Basilica

While exploring the old town, we passed some charming streets and even passed some handmade Orecchiette pasta being set out to dry.

Fresh Orecchiette pasta, set out to dry

We walked back into the city where we were staying, passing the castle and an interesting road sign on the way and having our last gelato in Italy!

Bari's Castle

Gelato and Nutella. We thought the nutella was nutella flavoured gelato - we were wrong!

Trani (Day trip from Bari)

We took a short half hour trip to Trani from Bari for the day and enjoyed our time here. We wandered through the city, down to the water where there were some lovely views of the water and many restaurants and cafe's.

We wandered through the streets of Trani, which we found were very peaceful and pretty.

We had lunch and some local wine at a lovely little bistro, enjoying some fresh, italian ingredients on a colourful antipasto plate.

The castle and cathedral in Trani are set on the water front, making for a beautiful place to visit. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit the castle and the cathedral wasn't open for viewing.

We finished our day in Trani with a walk through the seaside Villa Communale, a beautifully designed garden, also on the water front which has loads of nice places to sit and relax, a lot of shade and a great turtle pond, filled with all sizes of turtles and fish.