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Puglia
or "Apulia" is currently being proclaimed as the New Tuscany. There is
no other region in mainland Italy with a coast of 800 kilometers
dimension.
Puglia has hundreds of miles of golden beaches
with azure water, a breathtaking combination of whitewashed hilltop
villages and the Baroque beauty of cities. In the past, Puglia has been
quietly enjoyed by its natives.
Puglia is
the right place to spend your holidays or vacation!
Since November 2003 when Ryanair started daily flights, to Bari and to
Brindisi, getting to Puglia has been made far easier and quicker than
before. Both airports are modern and highly efficient and it is very
easy to rent a car from the numerous
rental car offices at arrivals.
Ostuni,
strategic to visit Puglia and close to some fine beaches, has come to
be known as "the
white city", due to
its white washed buildings which can be seen from miles away.
Be sure to explore the narrow winding streets and be sure to see the Monacelle Church.
Ostuni has to be your base for a
holiday in Puglia because it is such a beautiful city. The
old city is very peaceful and it has all the shops and restaurants you
would want. Ostuni is plenty of shops selling locally produced Olive
Oil too and it is very easy to find an accomodation for rentals.
In the Itria Valley, there are the famous trulli, unique to Puglia
or Apulia. Many trulli have been beautifully restored, even though has
been kept the original architecture, and utilised as very beatiful
holidays accomodation for rentals.
To fully discover the mystery of the trulli, visit Alberobello
where there are thousand of these stone cone-roofed buildings. This
rural architecture has made the town of Alberobello a UNESCO World
Heritage site. Alberobello is at the heart of Trulli land.
The towns of Cisternino,
Martina
Franca and Locorotondo
are also worthy of a visit.
A holiday in Puglia would not be complete without visiting the city of Lecce,
the head city of the Salento area.
Thanks to its art beauty and richness and to the loyalty to its
traditions, Lecce was called
"Athens in Apulia" as well as "Florence
of Baroque". The two surnames do fit the unique mark of
most buildings. Lecce baroque features differently than other countries.
Otranto
is a small town in the Salento
area which is in the south of Lecce. The Cathedral of Santa
Maria Annunziata with its extravagant mosaic floor and the Aragonese Castle are the
highlights of the town and we recommend exploring the Otranto town at
night when the buildings are lit up.
In Otranto the restaurants serve delicious seafood and the pasta dishes
are excellent. Further down the coast, you arrive at the lovely fishing
village of Castro
Gallipoli,
completely surrounded by the sea, fully deserves its name, "beautiful
city", due to enchanting location and to its unique monuments (The
Angioino Castle which serves as a sentinel towards the sea, the
Cathedral of St. Agatha and the Hellenic Fountain), to its beautiful
panorama and splendid Lido.
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