IX NIGHTS HALF BOARD WITH ENTRANCE FEES AND COOKING LESSON

AGENT PRICE: $ 897
COMPANION: $ 1025
SINGLE RATE: ADD $ 175.00

INCLUDES:
4 NIGHTS 4 STAR HOTEL IN CISTERNINO
2 NIGHTS 4 STAR HOTEL IN LECCE
ALL TRANSFERS
GUIDES FOR ALL EXCURSIONS
ENTRANCE FEES
COOKING LESSON
TASTING AT LOCAL FARM
6 DINNERS
BREAKFAST DAILY

ITINERARY

Day 1: BARI: ( ARRIVE APRIL 8 )
Arrive Bari airport and transfer at 1:00 pm and transfer to city tour of Bari (time for lunch on your own) to visit the beautiful Cathedral of Saint Sabinn, the Norman Swabian castle and the Basilica of San Nicola, a wonderful example of Romanesque- apulian architecture. End of tour we overnight in Cisterinino. Dinner at hotel.
Day2: OSTUNI

Ostuni shines like a beacon, a pearly white, rampart-ringed town across three hills and surrounded by olive groves. It’s the end of the Trulli region and the beginning of the hot, dry Penisola Salentina. Chic, with some excellent restaurants. After tour a cooking class and lunch.. Return to hotel for dinner.
Day 3: MAARTINA FRANCA & ALBERORELLO

Start with a hearty breakfast and then depart to tour the elegant historic center of Martina Franca to see the magnificent baroque monuments, the Ducal palace, the Dolphin fountain. After lunch on your own, we leave for a tour of Alberobello, the TRULLI capital. The town is best known for it’s very unusual buildings and is a UNESCO Human Heritage site since 1996, You will take a guided tour of the Monti quarter where there are more than 1000 trullo among them. Return of our hotel in Cisternino for dinner. A trullo is a small dwelling built from the local limestone, with dry-stone walls and a characteristic conical roof. It is a traditional and simple type of structure which you’ll see dotted around this part of Puglia, sometimes in its most basic form used as a kind of shed among the olive groves. The story behind Alberobello, once a town of trulli alone, is a typically Italian one: its design was to fiddle taxes and fool the authorities.

DAY 4: CISTERNINO 8 POLIGNANO MARE

After breakfast, we tour of Cisternino. The architecture is typical of the region with an old Centro Storico (Historical Centre) containing white washed, stone buildings with cool, shaded, cave-like interiors, narrow streets and churches. The town also features several community squares, each of which are build on the edge of the hill allowing for some spectacular landscapes.In Cisternino and the surrounding area there have been several Bronze Age finds, including different types of hand tools. Evidence would suggest that the region was also a seasonal home to ancient hunter gatherer humans. After lunch on your own ,we go to Polignano Mare. To discover why this small town on the Adriatic coast of Puglia, Italy is so popular with visitors from Italy and further a field, all you need do is see some of the photographs on this site. It’s location on top of the limestone cliffs overlooking the azure sea make it a spectacular sight on its own, but if you then include the historic old town with narrow roads and alleys twisting and turning in a maze of houses, shops, bars and restaurants, it becomes everyone’s idea of the perfect Italian coastal town.

Day 5: GALLIPOLI & LECCE

We pack our bags and leave today for a tour of Gallipoli, the “Pearl of the Ionian Sea”. This lovely town is surrounded by the sea. Gallipoli, from the Greek Kallipolis meaning beautiful city, is a fishing village on the coast in southern Italy’s Puglia region. Gallipoli has a good old town built on a limestone island and linked to the mainland by a 16th century bridge. Its harbors are used by fishing boats and there’s plenty of fresh seafood. After lunch, time to browse about town before leaving for overnight in LECCE. Lecce, sometimes called the Florence of the south, is the main city on Puglia’s Salento Peninsula. Because of the soft limestone that’s easy to work, Lecce became the center for the ornate architecture called the barocco leccese and the city is filled with Baroque monuments. The historic center is compact making it a great place for walking and its restaurants offer abundant fine food typical of Puglia. Also notable are the traditional handicrafts, especially the art of paper mache’.

Day 6: OTRANTO & LECCE

Morning tour of Otranto. Entering Otranto’s walled historic centre feels like entering a fortress. Great golden walls guard narrow car-free lanes, protecting countless pretty little shops selling touristic odds and ends. In July and August it’s one of Puglia’s most popular haunts, with excited holidaymakers providing a packed carnival atmosphere. Much is closed in the low season. Lunch on your own and return to Lecce where the rest of the day is free for shopping in the center. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 7:  Breakfast and departure

DOES NOT INCLUDE:  Airfare, Gratuities to escort and guides, Items of a personal nature

GIGLIO TRAVEL US, 727 -289- 8601, info@gigliotravelus.net,  www.gigliotravus.com