4 days in Puglia with kids:

Alberobello, ZooSafari, Itria Valley, Polignano a Mare & Bari

Hello! It’s been a while. I’m not sure if anyone has noticed, but it turned out quite a lot of things have been happening in the world lately. You’ll be shocked to know that some of those (and work, and kids, and laziness) got in the way of writing about our trip to Puglia in October.

So: we went to Puglia in October with the kids! It actually exceeded all my expectations, and not just because we obviously didn’t have much to compare it to in 2020, haha. We had always vaguely meant to go to to Puglia because we’d seen pictures from a lot of friends who’d visited Alberobello and the ZooSafari, but whenever it was time to book a trip we tended more often to leave Italy. Until, of course, covid meant we needed to stick closer to home and not risk getting stranded in another country.

A note about COVID — if you are reading this in the blissful future when this is no longer a thing, feel free to skip — at the time we planned and booked this trip, things were pretty well under control in Italy, particularly in our region and in Puglia. Things had started to tick upward at the time we went, but it was still a “green zone” at the time of travel — no restrictions. Obviously, things changed significantly later in October as the second wave began. 

How we got to Puglia: We flew into Bari on Volotea. Most people drive — I think it is only six or seven hours from Catania — but I hate driving and the flights were dirt cheap anyway. We rented a car to get around, which you will absolutely want to do if you are visiting Puglia with kids.

Where we stayed: We rented a beautiful three-bedroom trullo house about a 10-minute drive from downtown Alberobello. I can’t recommend this place enough! It was huge and the hosts were probably the best we’ve ever encountered. I recommend doing the bike tour with them as well! (See Day 2)

Day 1 in Puglia: ZooSafari in Fasano and downtown Alberobello

People have been telling us we have to go to the ZooSafari in Fasano* almost since we arrived in Sicily and, as usual, the masses were correct. It was amazing!

*A theme park, Fasanolandia, is on the same property and looked fun, but was closed when we visited.

The first part of our visit was the drive-thru zoo, which looks and feels like Jurassic Park, minus the dinosaurs, death and destruction. (On the day we visited, at least? Ha.) It was so much fun!

If you visit, buy peanuts from the vendors beforehand so you can feed the animals.

We basically could not stop laughing the entire time we were driving through. The animals know what’s up and many of them (the, ahem, herbivores) are able to walk right up to your car to demand peanuts. 

The areas containing more dangerous animals like the big cats were a little more secure going in, but it seemed to be up to the individual not to be the jackass who just leaves the car to go ride a lion. So trusting.

After the drive-through portion of the zoo, there was more to see on foot. (Also some rides, which also weren’t open). It was neat and we stayed for a couple of hours, but the driving part was absolutely what you go for.

LATER THAT DAY: 

Alberobello

Let’s set the scene: you are a lovely couple enjoying a glass of wine on what might be the most romantic rooftop in the most romantic town in all of Puglia. It’s the golden hour. Perhaps it is your anniversary. You are toasting to the good fortune that brought you to this place at this time.

Annnnnddddddddd then three kids and two adults come huffing and puffing up the steep stairs and throw themselves onto your rooftop paradise. The two big kids are bickering about whatever. The small one has randomly decided to pitch a fit because he isn’t allowed to throw himself back down the stairs. The adults look to be in desperate need of wine.

What do you do?

The only thing you can do.

You flee.

And that, my friends, is how we accidentally got sole custody of what turned out to be the most romantic rooftop in the most romantic town at the most romantic time of day. Regrettably, however, Owen, Fiona and Lochlan didn’t stop their shenanigans the second the couple left. The big two managed to corral Lochie for a couple seconds we needed to snap this pic, but that was about it on the romance front.

However, let’s back up. Alberobello is a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its unique trulli homes. Trullo houses are dry stone buildings made with conical roofs, and you can find them all over the Itria valley in Puglia. Apparently there are different theories about the why so many of these homes were constructed, but one is that they could be quickly demolished when tax collectors came calling. I have no idea if this is true.

Regardless of the reason, the trulli of Alberobello are absolutely stunning. We parked in one of the many lots near the Trulli monumental zone, then spent a few hours simply wandering around (and terrorizing couples, obviously). We had a fairly forgettable dinner on a piazza, but the scenery made it fantastic.

DAY 2 in Puglia: a scenic bike tour in Itria and a visit to  the Grotte di Castellana

I’ve been wanting to try a bike tour for ages now, so when the owners of our AirBnB told us they also offered private e-bike tours, we jumped at the chance. Or at least, I did. But since I was doing the planning for this trip, that meant we all went along.

To cut to the chase: I was so nervous, but it was AMAZING.

First of all, e-bike. Electric bikes. I understand that these are basically cheating for real cyclists but HOLY COW THEY WERE FUN.* Our tour guide provided us with all the protective equipment we needed, including padded shorts for Chris and I. Fiona was a little too short for an e-bike of her own so she had to ride a pull-behind bike behind our guide, but Owen was able to ride one of his own. He did a great job! I was worried because he sometimes struggles with nerves in these types of situation, but he overcame a couple very minor spills and absolutely loved it. This ended up being deemed everyone’s favorite part of the trip, which is saying something considering we were petting giraffes the day before.

*Especially once Chris found out he could turn his bike to the same easy-as-hell setting I had mine on. He spent the first half of the ride working way harder than the rest of us, whoops.

The scenery was amazing and the weather was absolutely perfect for our ride, which was an enormous relief since I had a bad case of nerves beforehand. On a few occasions I’ve been known to make outdoors-y plans like this that ended up being deemed NOT OUR FAVORITE by the rest of the family.

Luckily, there was still time in the day for me to select an activity that everyone hated.

The Grotte di Castellana!

The Grotte di Castellana is a network of beautiful caves near Alberobello, about two miles of which you can tour. In my defense, no one would have hated it at all — we’ve enjoyed other caves — if we hadn’t made the critical error of deciding to go to the last tour of the day. After we spent the morning exercising.

It started off reasonably well, but after the first hour of walking around underground … not great. Luckily, there was nowhere to go! It’s a cave!

Fortunately, gelato can solve any problem afterward.

Day 3 in Puglia: Polignano A Mare

When planning our trip to Puglia, I really struggled with deciding what to do with what to do with our days. How can you choose between Matera or Lecce or Ostuni or Taranto, many of which had been recommended by friends and appeared to be beautiful? Ultimately, however, we settled on picturesque Polignano A Mare for a leisurely day.

We spent our afternoon walking around this sweet little town, especially enjoying the scenery along the lungomare. We stopped by the famous beach (see above) Lama Monachile, which I’ve seen listed in quite a few places as one of the “best beaches” in southern Italy. I’m so glad we got to see it! I will say, however, that my feelings on this are the same as every time I see “Isola Bella” listed as one of the best beaches in Sicily: it is absolutely insanely gorgeous, but I do not think it is anywhere near a “best” for actually sitting on/swimming at the beach. At least, not with kids. But we were there in October, so that wasn’t relevant to our trip, haha. By the way, Polignano A Mare is home to a cave restaurant you’ve probably see pictures of all over the internet, Grotta Palazzese. I actually looked into going there, but the prices were HAHAHAHA NO. At least for us!

We did, however, have my favorite meal of the entire Puglia trip in Polignano a Mare! I’m still dreaming of this pinsa from Malidea (Lungomare Domenico Modugno, 11).

Honestly, it was hard to walk around Polignano A Mare and not want to take pictures of EVERYTHING.
Every little street was adorable, and in the Old Town area you can find poetry all over the place. 

Day 4 in Puglia: a food tour in Bari

As I mentioned, we flew into Bari. However, we arrived late in the evening and didn’t have time to do anything but grab our rental car and make the one-hour to our house in Alberobello. Since our flight home on Monday wasn’t until late afternoon, however, we had time for one activity. We settled — I’m sure you are shocked — on a a food tour!

The fun surprise for Chris was this turned out to be another ambush exercise activity, as the walking tour I’d scheduled was merged with a bike/rickshaw tour (we just rolled with it because covid). I’d originally been under the impression that we were all going to be in a rickshaw, but then found out that one of us adults had to take a bike.

For the record, I did volunteer to ride the bike but Chris insisted. And it turned out to be a very easy ride. Right, honey?

I love this tour — offered by Velo Service — because it gave us the opportunity to learn a lot about Bari in a short time and to visit places we probably would not have otherwise seen. For instance, our guide took us down a street full of homes where people sat out front and made fresh pasta by hand. Apparently they’ve been doing this for basically forever.

We visited a church (fleeing when we realized a wedding was happening inside), saw some great views of the harbor and stopped outside a castle.

There was also a fun, if overlong, visit with a street musician who got everyone playing some musical instruments. And then there was the FOOOOOOOD.

I should mention that everywhere we went in Puglia, we’d find the traditional focaccia bread, usually with tomatoes. I’ve seen it around in Sicily but didn’t know what all the fuss was about until our AirBnB hosts left us a huge pile of it on the first night we arrived. Yeah, I understand the fuss now. We DESTROYED it. Naturally, then, our first stop of the tour took us to a place where we acquired some phenomenal focaccia. Yessssssss.

Other stops included a deli offering platters of meat and cheese, a candy shop, some fried risotto cooked up outside a restaurant by a woman who seemed to be a very good cook with very little patience for her husband. Hilarious. 

The pasta ladies also gave the kids some dough to play with. 

The last and best stop, of course, was for ice cream! Lochie had his first ever cono gelato. 

On top of everything else, Bari turned out to be a lovely little town as well. Next time, I hope to spend more time there.

Well, that about does it for our trip to Puglia with the kids! It is strange that this was only a couple months ago, but already seems like it was ages.

As for conditions in Sicily right now: we have had lockdowns at varying levels of severity for the past few months. However, despite the second wave hitting our island dramatically harder than the first wave, the lockdowns have been significantly less restrictive. Mixed feelings about that, obviously. The base abruptly closed the schools for a month or so, but then just as abruptly decided to reopen two weeks before Christmas break. The base received the first round of the vaccine and started distributing just in the last week.

I feel hopeful for 2021.

Wishing you all a happy new year!