Cycle through the fairytale region of Puglia in Italy as you taste and smell the culture from the seaside to the olive trees
REMOVE just one stone in the conical roof above my head, and the whole house will collapse on me.
I’m staying in a fairytale — almost Smurf — medieval house which was designed to dismantle in seconds . . . to hide it from the taxman. Oh, those canny Italians.
Now, though, the pretty trulli homes of Alberobello, Apulia, are in a Unesco World Heritage site, and I’m lucky enough to be staying in this pretty slice of history.
It’s just one stop on my cycling tour of Puglia, on the heel of boot-shaped Italy.
With more olive trees in this farming region than Italians in Italy, it’s no wonder olive oil is a common theme on my trip.
I visit two masserias, huge fortified country farms built to defend the olive crops. I bathe in it, moisturise with it, sniff it, munch the olives themselves on biscuits and I’m even asked to fall in love with them.
I hug an olive tree that’s 4,000 years old and still producing olives. The owner clearly loves his trees and points out saucy female forms in the tree’s twisting gnarly bark. Page tree, if you like.
I’ll admit it. On this trip I ate more than I cycled. Phew. This is an easy cycling holiday suitable for occasional pedallers like myself.
Which is handy, because Puglians, relatively new to tourism, take delight in over feeding guests, they’re (rightly) so proud of their cuisine.
Headwater provides the bikes, accommodation, maps, apps and back-up, and lug your luggage to the next accommodation.
You’re free to cycle to the next stop at your own pace.
And with more and more clients opting for e-bikes — electric bikes that gently assist — these trips are now perfect for older adventurers.
Cycling along the Adriatic was my highlight, past the crumbling trulli houses, in vivid green fields, through fishing villages with salt-ravaged boats bobbing in the harbour.
Then I headed inland through fields of fruit and vegetables, vineyards and wrought iron gates with the odd dog yapping away in Italian.
It’s architecturally stunning. In the walled city of Monopoli, guests stay in apartments overlooking old courtyards. Cobbled streets, tight alleys and occasional glimpses of the Adriatic below or the cathedral above.
Hotel Albergo Diffuso has rooms spread throughout this town. If you’re lucky, you can bag one with a private turret and terrace.
Sea urchins are a local delicacy — raw. They’re almost alien in their beauty, black and spiky, containing only tiny smears of orange meat.
Ricci, as they’re known, are Puglia’s Viagra and are only eaten in months with an ‘r’ in. No wonder the locals are so passionate. Even about their olive trees.
Meals come in many trouser- busting courses. And often, restaurants will slip in a bowl of ear-shaped orecchiette pasta between courses as an afterthought, as though it doesn’t count.
Tell that to the bathroom scales.
Bowls of tiny Taralli biscuits and olives are served with everything, including the terrific local wine.
The seafood is incredible. From swordfish carpaccio, raw prawns and mussels, octopus salad and fish panzerotti (think savoury fish doughnut) to clam spaghetti. Even the fish and chips are to die for.
Inland, rabbit and veal are favourites at the farm-to-the-fork Trattoria Terra Madre in Alberobello.
GO: Puglia
STAYING/GETTING THERE: A seven-night self-guided Contrasts of Puglia cycling tour with Headwater costs from £1,179pp, including accommodation, continental breakfasts, three evening meals, luggage transfers and bikes with RidewithGPS route directions.
Flight inclusive prices are from £1,399pp from Gatwick to Bari airport.
See or call 01606 828527.
Along with brilliantly crunchy fresh steamed veg, artichoke fritters and fava-bean mash.
The trip takes in Polignano a Mare, a crunchy-edged seaside town with a hidden restaurant in a cave below, and a Roman bridge above.
You’ll stay in Conversano, in a hotel formed of traditional houses joined together.
Pass through the hilltop town of Locorotondo. And end in the upmarket Masseria Salamina to soak away any cycling aches in the sea-water pool.
MOST READ IN TRAVEL
This self-guided holiday gives you the freedom to explore at your own pace, with the comfort blanket of a well-planned route and stunningly characterful accommodation.
Food is provided where needed, and not where it makes more sense to explore local towns.
And the cycling more than justifies any en-route gluttony. Recommended.