Forget Tuscany, Puglia is where you want to go
Of course Tuscany is nice. Beautiful. Even stunning. A living postcard with the most beautiful towns you drive to over rolling golden grain fields and past waving sunflowers. The downside that comes with the advantage: you are not alone. And that fact brings a few other downsides with it. Prices are high, the waiters a bit less friendly, and with a bit of bad luck, you see more Dutch than Italians. Therefore, here follows a sample of Puglia propaganda, my pearl in the heel of the boot. I have chosen to spend most of my vacations here and for this reason.
1. Always a sea nearby
Because Puglia lies between two seas, the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea, there is always a nice beach nearby. That brings me immediately to point two.
2. Cool beach bars
People often think – rightly so – of Italian beach bars as beaches where you can hardly get a sunbed because the families that have been coming for years have claimed the sunbeds generation after generation. And those beaches are lovely, but sometimes it’s hard to find a Republic-like beach club with good music and nice sunbeds. Well, you can find that in Puglia. You can always find a spot here, and the beach clubs are exactly how you want them. Cocktails, good music, massages on your sunbed, and of course those nice boutiques with things that will always remind you of this vacation for the rest of the year. A few of my favorites: Le Palme, Beach Club, Sabbia D’Oro, Zeus in Galipoli, Guna Beach, and Cala Maka.
3. Fish, fisherman, fishing
The sea is everywhere, so you eat the tastiest fish here. Lobster, oysters, shrimp, calamari rings, and all of that for a reasonable price.
4. All beautiful towns
Lecce, Ostuni, Bari, Monopoli, Martina Franca, Matera, Cisternino, Ceglie Messapica, and of course Polignano al Mare, with the most hospitable people in the world.
5. People are happy with tourists
Pugliesi are not grumpy and stiff, they are open, do their best to speak English, and are proud when tourists visit their country.
6. Nice shops
Oh guys, you can shop so well here. My favorites in Ostuni: Malibu, Amore, and of course the boutique of Coccaro Beach.
So come, but don’t tell too many people. Puglia may become the new Tuscany, but please in moderation.
