Kiwi Roaming

We decided with the heatwave continuing to move back to the coast of Puglia and after looking at loads of options settled on Monopoli for four nights with the intention of taking day trips as well as enjoying the beaches here too. Monopoli is pronounced Mono Poli (rather than all run together how we say it).

Steve loves staying in an old city where we get lost every time we walk out the door of our accommodation. We chose a Casa Martina a one bedroom apartment right in the centre of the narrow winding alleyways, it is over 3 levels and there are 30 steps up to our front door. On the lowest level is a kitchen / dining living room, 14 steps up a huge bedroom and ensuite, then another 16 steps to the roof where we have an expansive terrace, full second kitchen (fridge, hobs, crockery, pots etc) and a washing machine. It is newly fitted out with modern everything and excellent air conditioning. A great spot especially as our washing dries in about 10 minutes here with the sun and slight sea breeze.

We’ve had a pretty relaxed stay, swimming, wandering the streets, sheltering from the heatwave, catching up with blogs, watching MotoGP / football / cricket, calling family and eating local produce. There was a festival on over the weekend so the town has been chocker and it’s been noisy with gigs as well as the usual church bell noises.

The main beach right on the walls of the old town is closed and being extensively rebuilt with new sea wall and is all fenced off so we have walked to the next two sandy beaches nearby – one about 15 mins and the other about 25 minutes walk away. There are plenty of rock cliff outcrops where people swim from as well but we prefer the sandy beaches. they are so crowded the deal is you drop your stuff somewhere and head straight into the sea. At both beaches the water is completely clear, warm, salty and therefore very buoyant. We can walk out a long way before it gets over our heads, we’ve spent about 30 minutes in the water each time. The freakiest thing is leaving our phones on the shore in a pile with our shoes, towels and clothes. These beaches are tiny, so we figure everyone is doing the same thing. So far touch wood nothing has been nicked. Swimming is so awesome and gives us some respite from the heat, the Adriatic Sea is wonderful.

We’ve mostly cooked our own meals here, enjoying the rooftop for eating and chilling out. We have eaten a cone of calamari, a cannoli, some expensive local focaccia, a sweet baked cheesecake like treat and gelato – all at expensive tourist prices.

Monopoli is very like many other roman built towns we have visited with a castle, cathedral and other grand buildings built over many centuries. The buildings are painted white with different designs of doors and plaques naming the accomodation places. Some of the streets are wide enough for a narrow car and it amazes us how vehicles try to drive around here. We are in the tourist area but have seen parts of the wider city during our walk from the train station, the buildings are low rise with businesses on the ground floor and apartments above.

How Monopoli differs is its fortified sea walls, the cliffs it is built on and a unique rocky coastline. I will write another blog about the boat trip we did up to neighbouring Polignano a Mare.