The drive from Matera to Polignano was very short but as we couldn’t check-in until 3pm, we took the scenic route through never ending fields of wheat and other crops. We planned to stop just outside of Polignano to give the hotel a call, as they had requested, and also for a comfort stop and a bite to eat. The first place we stopped advertised snacks available, but the lady behind the counter was very rude and didn’t really want to help us so we decided to go elsewhere. We ended up stopping just outside of Polignano at a service station that also had pokie machines, sold lotto tickets, food, and best of all, beer! The fellow behind the counter was very friendly and helpful. I think he was learning English as he got a “bravo” from the other worker when he said $8.80 perfectly in English.
We rolled into town a tad early and manage to jag a park. We wandered around a bit, found our hotel and before we knew it it was time to check-in. The B&B/Hotel we stayed at was on the edge of the town, with the centre only a 5 minute walk away. We had the two best rooms in the building, on the highest floor that overlooks the ocean. The view was amazing and even though the balcony was small, it was lovely to sit out there and watch the yachts and other boats go past.
Polignano is famous for a musician who performed the song ‘Volare’, which in Italian means Fly. This song has been covered by many artists like Dean Martin and other crooners, so I imagine most readers will know of it.
We have 4 nights here which is probably enough unless you want to spend a lot of time touring the countryside. We went for a walk around town and found a little deli that had cheeses, meats, bread, snack, wines and beers. We stocked up on supplies which we took to the roof top terrace of our accommodation and promptly consumed.
Tonight night we went to a restaurant suggested by the young fellow who checked us in. It was a seafood restaurant and we had a variety of local fresh seafood.
The next day we went on a road trip out to visit the Trulli. These are stone buildings, apparently conceived many years ago when land owners had their workes construct their own accommodation that could easily be torn down if the tax inspector arrived to see how many dwellings were on the property. Whether or not this is the case, the style of house seemed to stick and there are areas in Alberabello where there are 100’s of Trulli build side by side.
It was getting close to lunch time and Kath had a plan to try and get to Cisternino around lunch time to see if we can have lunch at a Macelleria, which is Italian for Butcher Shop. “Lunch, at a butcher shop?” I hear you say. Yes, this is a bit of a fad in this part of the world and Cisternino has quite a few of them.
We parked in a designated car park that seemed to be miles from the centre of town and walked in. As it turned out we weren’t that far out, but there was a big flight of stairs to climb to get there, that seemed to go on forever. After we got to the town, we headed for a Macelleria that we’d heard about, but didn’t manage to find it, we did find a couple of others though and sat down for lunch just after 1pm.
This one was called The Three Lanterns, and we only found out after we ate there that it is number 1 restaurant in the town on trip advisor. It deserves it though as this would rate as my favourite meal on the trip so far. The meal consisted of pork, buffalo, wild boar, beef, meatballs, sausages, beer, wine oh and some veggies.
We headed back to Polignano and this night we went to a little restaurant called La Locanda, which was very nice, and possibly the second best meal I’ve had. Again the main fare is seafood in various forms and everyone else had a Spaghetti ala Frutti d’Mare, but I had a tagliatelle with porcini mushroom ragu, just amazing.
The next day was Gary’s birthday and as per his wishes we didn’t go anywhere, just wandered around the town area. We stopped for lunch at La Balconia restaurant which over looked the sea and had a great lunch, although they stuffed up Kath’s order with both entree and main coming at the same time, meaning one would go cold. It wa hard to argue with the view though.
That night, as per Gary’s birthday wish, we had pizza for dinner at a place called Pizze a Fichi (Pizza & Fig). These guys rate well on trip advisor and the pizzas didn’t disappoint. We ordered a pizza each but only 3 came, with Gary’s never showing up. When we asked where the 4th one was we were met with blank stares from the wait staff who didn’t really know what we were talking about.
Based on the size of the pizza’s, 3 seemed to be enough and Leanne Gary and I shared 2 pizzas, Kath ate all of hers! In her defence it was a Margherita, so very light on the toppings. The other two where loaded and exceptionally nice.
The next day, our last full day, was another day around town. We bought a couple of souvenirs and decided to head back to the restaurant underneath our accommodation for lunch. On the way we picked up some more beers and snacks from the deli. The lunch restaurant was a flashing looking and expensive but the food, wine and beer was very nice.
L&G found out after lunch that their flight to Rome for the following day had been cancelled due to the fire at the Rome airport a few days before. Afternoon was spent doing a bit of packing while L&G worked through their flight predicament. The end result of this was instead of travelling to Bari with us for a midday flight, they had to leave a 6am to make a 7:30am flight. Not ideal, but better than flying the next day.
We had some snack in the afternoon, and that night, as an early morning start was required, we grabbed some takeaway pizza and pasta and eat on the roof top terrace. L&G got away on time in the morning, and we spent the morning wandering around the rocks in front of the hotel and we took some photos of the Volare guy.
We flew out on time, just after midday on our way to Milan where we will stay for 2 nights.