The Best of Puglia: Exploring South Italy’s Trulli, Beaches, and White Cities l SIMPLY SLOW TRAVELE

Welcome to a new video, this time exploring the beauties of Puglia. Today I will take you to some of my favorite towns in the southern Italy region, as well as one of my favorite beaches, for a perfect one-day itinerary. My day started early in the morning, in the iconic town of Alberobello, with its traditional houses, with a cone-shaped stone roof and whitewashed facades called the Trulli. I suggest going there early in the morning, as around 10 am the streets start flooding with tourists and touring groups, especially the Rione Monte neighborhood, where most of the Trulli are. This way, you can more freely explore its picturesque corners and watch as the store owners start opening their businesses for the day. In the Rione Monte neighborhood, you will find that most of the Trulli are used today as many different types of stores. Some sell the typical mass-produced souvenirs, however, you can find a few stores with more traditional and local products, such as Pasteca La Mandragora, selling a wide array of beautiful table and bed linens, all made in Puglia, that for me, are the best type of souvenirs. I spent a good couple of hours just wandering about Rione Monte, walking up and down its many narrow cobbled streets, peeking into every little corner, savoring the flowery details and the unique architecture of these buildings, and exploring a few of its stores. As the streets were getting busier, I crossed over towards Rione Aia Piccola, and from the public garden viewpoint, you can have these iconic views over the cone-shaped roofs of Rione Monte. Aia Piccola is a smaller neighborhood, and it also retains a more authentic feel to this day. More of its Trulli are still inhabited, and you will hardly find any stores on this side of Alberobelo. After visiting Alberobelo, I made my way to the lesser known, but very beautiful town of Locorotondo, just 15 minutes away. Unlike Alberobelo, you won't find here the flocks of tourists, making it a more enjoyable experience to wander about this town. With its historical center fully built in a circle around the main church, Locorotondo is a wonderful maze of alleyways, passages and arcways, with stairways and doorways fully decorated with potted flowers that bring a pop of color to the all-white architecture of the town. We had lunch in Locorotondo at O Cordone, sitting in the outside terrace along one of the narrow streets of the town, with the tall buildings casting their shade upon us and protecting us from the hot sun. The food was very traditional and tasty, and we started with some grilled cheese and eggplant parmigiana, and then had laganari and orecchiette pasta for memes. After lunch, and after some more walking in the village and admiring the plains surrounding Locorotondo down below, we went to spend the afternoon at the beach. Our choice was the Porto Guiacholo beach, near the town of Monopoly, a beach that is located at the very end of a cove, with turquoise waters and with a castle overlooking it. We laid our towel on the rocks, away from the crowd at the sandy beach, in a quieter and more secluded area, perfect for relaxing under the sun and for quickly going for a refreshing swim now and then. We stayed there for a couple of hours, just enjoying the scenery, the beautiful water and the warm sun. As the sun started falling towards the west, we decided to do some exploration of the coastline and hiked our way towards the north, along the sea, discovering a few more small coves and nice beach areas. To finish our day, we went to another iconic town in Puglia, the white town of Ostuni, perched atop a hill overlooking the plains below, all the way to the sea. We first had the delicious and very creamy ice cream at Cremaria alla Scala, before heading to the historical center. Ostuni is another very picturesque village. Its historical center is made of a couple main roads leading up to the Duomo at the top, and then narrow roads that go around the hilltop where it sits, as if spiraling all the way down, with minuscule side alleys and steep stairs that seem to take you straight to the horizon afar. Wherever there is a little bit more room, that is where the restaurants set their outside terraces, and in several narrow alleyways and stairways, people gather in front of the bars, having a cocktail or just enjoying the spirit of the village and the views. After wondering about the village and having a late afternoon cocktail, we added to our dinner at Osteria del Tempo Perso. The restaurant has two rooms, both carved in the stone, once used as an oven and a granary, and decorated with many traditional decorations. The food is simple, unpretentiously traditional, but so very tasty. This was the perfect ending to our day. I hope you have liked this first video on my trip to Puglia, and I hope to see you on my next ones. Don't forget to subscribe to not miss any bits of this beautiful region.