Itinerary    18 - 25 September 2010 

Day One

We shall fly via Rome to bar, and thence transfer to the hotel.

Three nights in the three star Hotel Royal in the white port of Trani. Dinner is included this evening.

Day Two

We shall travel by coach to see gems of Norman Architecture in the coastal region: Ruvo di Puglia, Molfetta and Bisceglie, all situated in congenial towns with refreshment opportunities.

Dinner will be at your choice - but guidance will be given.

Day Three

We shall take the excellent local train service to the regional capital of Bari, to see the Basilica of San Nicola (where St Nicholas's tomb really does exist), and the equally impressive Duomo.  In the afternoon, we return to Trani to admire our own cathedral, superbly situated overlooking the port.

Dinner will be at your choice.

Day Four

A coach will take us on to Alberobello, the town of the astonishing conical houses; time for lunch and then to Castel Del Monte, Frederick II's mathematical puzzle on a hilltop. From there we shall proceed to Matera.

Two nights in the 4* Hotel Sant'Angelo (or equivalent) Dinner will be included.

Day Five

We shall spend the day walking around this complex and surprising town, where until 1955 half the populace lived in cave dwellings and worhsipped in rock churches. The town is, for all that, beautiful and the surrounding countryside very appealing.

Dinner will be at your choice, but with guidance, as you wish.

 Day Six

We shall proceed by coach, via the white village of Ostuni, glistening on its hill, to the Hotel delle Palme in the city of Lecce, the last in Italy, rich in opulent, exuberantly carved baroque churches and palaces.  A local craft is making artistic objects from cartapesta (papier mache.

Two nights at the Hotel Delle Palme, 5 star, dinner will be provided in the hotel.

Day Seven

A country tour by coach will take us to Otranto, a delightful seaside resort with famous paving in its Cathedral, and from there on a slow drive along the heritage coast, stopping at Santa Maria di Leuca, Apulia's southernmost point.

Dinner will be provided.

Day Eight We shall transfer by coach to Bari airport for our return home via Rome or Milan.
 

 

 Tour Leader:

Anthony Earl was head of languages at Eltham College, from which he recently took early retirement.  Anothony speaks French, Italian and German and has broad cultural interests in these areas.  Anthony has led several tours with The Travellers Club as well as language study tours in France and Italy.

 

 

Apulia - Saracens, Normans & Spaniards in Italy

Apulia – the heel of Italy - is always a surprise. With more than a hint of the Orient, and areas suggestive of the plains of Thessaly, it offers Norman cathedrals, mysterious castles, strange conical houses, elaborate baroque cities, the huge sheepwalk of the Murge and the backdrop of the wide agricultural plain of the Tavoliere.

We shall taste wines like the famous Moscato di Trani, and the famous white of Locorotondo, savour fish dishes,wander through almost Arabian white villages, and see the coast where the Italic ends and the Hellenic begins. 

It was the preferred kingdom of the Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. We have the feeling that the historic Orient is seeping inwards, and some primitive customs, like the malocchio – the evil eye - linger on. In the seventeenth century, the colonizing Spanish aristocracy left its mark. Many are the theories to explain the design of the whitewashed conical houses of Alberobello.

At the furthest tip of Europe, it was once one of Italy’s poorest regions but is now one of its most prosperous, and its advanced agricultural industries supply British supermarkets with high quality produce.

We shall gather regularly for short talks and explanations, often over pre-dinner drinks au choix and although timings are given, a friendly consensus may  cause us to adapt them.

In the Mezzogiorno, the morning finishes soon after midday and life picks up after 4pm – hence we are taking generous times for lunch and begin the days earlier rather than later.

Evening meals both in families and in restaurants, rarely get underway before 20.30, and restaurateurs are unwilling to serve any sooner. For many meals, the menu is predominantly fish even over three courses. Please let the tour leader know as soon as possible if you cannot eat fish or if you are vegetarian.

 

To contact us about this Tour telephone 01425 480600 or via email here.

 

To download or print the Cultural Tours Booking Form click here.