Puglia 2019

My trip to Puglia did not start out great: my flight was cancelled due to the Lufthansa strike. I received absolutely no notification from the airline and spent seven hours at the airport trying to rebook my trip. Two days and two connecting flights later, I was finally in Italy.

Puglia is filled with charming towns that are begging to be photographed and explored. I based the first part of my trip in Lecce and made a day trip out to Otranto, where for some reason I was the only visitor at the castle and was let in for free. I was also caught in a severe wind and rainstorm and was later told it was the worst storm they've had in years (this was the same storm that flooded Venice).

The next stop was Martina Franca, where I ran into a kind, old Italian man outside the basilica and he took me on a tour of the smaller churches in town, ones I would have missed if he did not point them out to me. We even picked up a couple from Montreal along the way to join us on the tour.

I was hesitant to make the trek out to Alberobello (a town filled with trulli or conical houses) because I've read that it's tourist trap. Thank goodness I was visiting during low season, which meant the crowds were kept to a minimum.

Bari's old town was my favourite - it actually feels lived in and you can hear families behind closed doors going about their lives. I missed the Italian grandmas making orecchiette in the morning but saw the wares laid out for sale outside of their homes.

I also made the trip out to Matera (which is technically in Basilicata, not Puglia) and the town was jaw-dropping. It is one of the few places that exceeded expectations and I legitimately gasped when I first saw a view of the landscape. I spent the full day exploring the alleyways, climbing up and down the stairs of Matera. Each view was stunning in its own way and I highly recommend visiting to experience it for yourself.

Some lessons learned from this trip:

• October is when high season ends so many restaurants and shops close down in November for the rest of the season, or for several weeks before the Christmas season. Do not be surprised if the gelato shop you want to try is closed if you visit in November.
• Italian siesta is a thing. Everything closes down in the afternoon until about 5 p.m. so while it may feel like a ghost town, think of it as having the town all to yourself to explore.
• Getting around Puglia via train is totally doable but it requires some planning and patience, and you may not be able to visit all the towns that you want. The local train line is Ferrovie del Sud Est (FSE) though it's now part of the Trenitalia network. The trains are a bit rickety and do not have the precision of Japanese trains but don't worry, your connecting train will wait for you if your first train is running late. To get to Matera, take the Ferrovie Appulo Lucane (FAL) train line from Bari.
• Always buy a return train ticket if you know you'll be taking the same route back. The smaller towns don't have an attendant selling tickets at the station and the machines may not function properly. If all else fails, find the person validating the ticket on the train to explain (or mimic) the situation and they will sell you a slightly pricier ticket.
• Southern Italians eat late. Super late. I try not to get to a restaurant until 8 p.m. but it's usually empty and won't start filling up until 9 or 10 p.m.

Of course, being in Italy, food was a big part of my trip. I took a pasta-making class where I found the dough was not that difficult to handle because they do not add eggs to it in Southern Italy; it's only semolina flour and water. I learned how to make cavatelli-shaped pasta (surprisingly easy) and orecchiette (not so easy).

I had really fantastic food in Bari, which I must recommend:

• My Airbnb host suggested Gastronomia del Centro for seafood and the meal was so good that I immediately went back the next night.
• I randomly stumbled across Panificio Santa Rita and knew I had to get in line to join the locals. There's a ticket near the door - take one and wait for your number to be called for the best focaccia barese of your life.

I also had great meals from grocery stores. I was in Otranto at lunchtime and nothing was open except for the fancy restaurant by the water, so I hopped into a grocery store to order a panini at the deli counter. The ciabatta was studded with spicy peppers and was filled with bresaola and fresh mozzarella - it was so good, the best sandwich I've had in years. Another evening, I needed a break from carbs so I purchased a bunch of vegetable antipasti from the store and it was exactly what my body needed.

I missed my connecting flight home (another lesson learned: you need more than an hour at the Frankfurt airport because it's huge, people will point you in the wrong direction and passport control takes forever) but that's okay, it was just part of the adventure.