Puglia Road Trip – Part 1

Gargano National Park

Apologies for the lull in posts. We’ve gone native and taken a leaf out of the Italian’s book. Lots of things grind to a halt in August, factories close down, shops put up their shutters and most people seem to slide to the coast like paperclips to a magnet. Who can blame them really? When the temperatures are mid to high thirties with humidity off the scale it seems the sensible thing to do. So if you can’t beat them, join them.

It was for this reason we decided to pack up the van and hit the road, on a due east heading, destination Puglia, first stop Gargano National Park. As you look at Italy on a map, there’s a slight bulge on the east coast, ‘mid-calf’ on the leg of Italy. It’s a rocky outcrop predominantly covered by the Gargano National Park, a mountainous, wild landscape full of dense pine forests and rocky spurs. Our planned destination for three nights was an agriturismo with restaurant and campsite near the more populated coastline. However, when we got there it was one huge building site with no services available so plan B it was! Which consisted of a quick search for nearby campsites only to be faced with a barrage of busy camping village after camping village. They’re great if you have kids and want to be based near the beach for a while but it wasn’t really what we had in mind. But being the main tourist season beggars couldn’t be choosers and we booked and paid for two nights at a camping village just outside Peschici, down a steep winding road. It was a means to an end and the following day we had a fabulous bike ride from our campsite to Vieste, sixteen miles round the coast. The steep start was a shock to the system but eventually it became more rolling and we were pedalling on a road that snaked along the coastline representing a rollercoaster; climbing and dipping, flowing round corners and before we knew it we were cruising along the front in Vieste, sandwiched between the lidos and beach on one side and a plethora of restaurants the other. Our destination was the old town though; past the marina and up a hill on the most easterly spit of land sits a beautiful town, full of whitewashed buildings and narrow little streets that seem to naturally perch on top of the rock as it must have done for centuries previously. We locked our bikes up, changed our shoes and spent the next few hours exploring the streets of this gorgeous little town. Apart from a handful of other visitors we nearly had it to ourselves.

Listening to the grumbles in our tummies we had lunch in the nearest trattoria and what a find it was. It was called La Teresina and was a quintessential Italian restaurant with tables under a vine covered pergola and walls adorned with pottery jugs and ceramics. We had bruschetta to start which was as fresh as a daisy, followed by the most delicious pasta dish I’ve had since being in the country. The Puglian pasta speciality is orecchiette, named so because their shape represents small ears, this was served in a prawn and rocket tomato sauce and was absolutely divine! The ride back was considerably harder than the ride there. I kept telling myself it was because of the now searing heat, and not due to the big lunch with a glass of wine!

Early that evening, we decided to escape. Even though we’d paid for that night we’d had enough of the campsite village life and decided to break free! It felt like we were running away, so it was with excitement and giddiness that we packed everything up (the quickest we’ve done so!) and before we knew it we were on the road again! We decided to just drive and look for somewhere to park as we went along. We left the busy coast behind and took a road that went across some of the wilderness of the National Park, it was an absolutely beautiful drive. The sun was setting behind the hills, casting the forest in a warm glow, the temperature had dropped to a pleasant warmth with patches of fresh, cool air and through our open windows our nostrils were assaulted by the aromatic smell of the pine forest as we wound along a ridge and dropped in to the valley beyond. Soon the wild pine forest gave way to more agricultural land and acre upon acre of olive groves for as far as the eye could see. The ancient olive trees stood behind their stone walls like wizened old men, sat in the same spot for years and years, each one so different; in the fading light I half expected them to come to life like characterful trolls from a movie scene!

We skirted round Vieste and then peeled off on to a quiet road that hugged the coastline and soon came across our camping spot for the night. A gravel parking area beside the road, on a cliff high above the sea, next to the Torre dell’Aglio, a fortified tower in a commanding position gaurding the coastline. This location was poles apart from where we’d been the night before, no one else in sight and all we could hear was the reassuring song of the cicadas and the lapping of the waves down in the now black abyss below us, a soundtrack that we went to sleep to as the gentle sea breeze blew through the open van door.

The next morning we rose before the sun and walked round to the concrete platform in front of the tower where we watched the most beautiful sunrise over the ocean, it was one of those special moments which you feel so privileged to witness and a fitting end to our stay in this part of Puglia. We’ve only scratched the surface so will definitely be back. But for now our next destination on our road trip was calling………