04 Jul Puglia downsides?
As I mentioned in “Puglia. The series.” Any place has its downsides and Puglia is not an exception to the rule.
Below you can read some of the problems that I observed during my stay in Bari and travelling throughout Puglia.
The most pressing matter in Puglia is transportation. If anyone asks me about getting from one point to another I will surely suggest renting a car.
For example, when I decided to visit Matera, only 70 km away I took a train from Bari Centrale that reach its destination in 1:45 hours. Spending almost 4 hours on a train for such a small distance can be a bit irritating.
Buses can reach some destinations just a bit faster but don’t expect miracles.
So if your plan is that in one day you visit Alberobello, Locorotondo and Ostuni this will be impossible without a car. Or maybe reach Torre dell’ Orso by car then drive to Otranto or Lecce.
Second problem in this part of Italy is the restaurant schedule. Even though a restaurant may have a sign saying it is open from 19-00 to 22:00 when you reach its location you might notice that it is closed. For a bit longer or for the rest of the day. There is no such thing as a fixed schedule. So if you are in Bari for example you might want to choose two recommended restaurants just to have a backup.
Still at this point a warning. Many, many restaurants (especially in Bari) are closed for a lot of hours in the afternoon so if you get hungry it can get a bit tricky.
Note: my time spent in Puglia was in May. It could be that these things happened because I was not in full tourist season but however before planning a trip you can take the above in consideration.
The things presented above are just little warnings that could help you get better organized. For me, since I do Intermittent Fasting It’s really no problem if the restaurants are closed or if I have to wait longer for food. However if you’re used to regular meal times you could plan a little in advance so you won’t get frustrated when reaching a place and see the CLOSED sign.