Kiwi Roaming

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Monopoli, it wasn’t as crowded in the old town as expected, but the beaches were crazy busy. This European heatwave is real, so being beside the coast brings options to cool down – sitting on the rooftop of our apartment in shade with the sea breeze or going swimming in the sea.

For this reason – and the opportunity to swim in a third sea – we are heading to Gallipoli next rather than explore the white mountain towns or Lecce the hub of the south.

We have been ripped off here a couple of times, charged touristo prices in a bakery and by choice sitting in a beautiful bar paying a couple of dollars more for our drinks. But for the most part we’ve eaten well and cheaply, enjoyed the food options here and especially enjoyed cooking with local ingredients at Casa Martina.

I should mention Italy is almost all transacted by card now with a few exceptions, small shops still insist on cash and all government accommodation taxes are to be paid in cash (which we experienced in 2024 and in other countries this trip). We also found the taxi’s in Matera offered a rounded down price for cash too.

There isn’t as much plant life in old town Monopoli but we did see hedges of tutcruem fruticans (our main hedge at home, known as “whitey bush” in our family), loads of prickly pear and our least favourite hay fever wise – hundreds and hundreds of Privet trees which act as shade but meant we needed a few antihistamine – in piazza’s or outside the windy streets.

Our hosts picked us up in a golf cart and dropped us to the train station, it was interesting driving through the town one way system in such a tiny vehicle, our driver carefully stopping at every intersection to ensure we weren’t wiped out.

Every single train station we’ve been to in southern Italy has had renovations happening, most being extensively modified and upgraded with new underpasses, toilet blocks, platform shops being installed. Monopoli was no exception but we found some shade to wait for our train which would take us to Lecce where we caught a bus to Gallipoli.

Below a couple more pics from our apartment. The sunset view from the rooftop, the view out our peephole window in the bathroom and the bathroom itself.