- Bari
- Alberobello
- Matera
- Castel del Monte
Greece does not have a land border with Italy, the Ionian Sea separates these countries. Excursions from Greece to Italy usually start from the port of Igoumenitsa, from where ferries leave for Italian ports: Ancona, Brindisi, Venice, Trieste. The shortest route is from Igoumenitsa to Bari. The ferry covers the distance between these cities of 307 km in an average of 8 hours. And already from Bari, excursion buses carry tourists to all the famous cities of Italy. Rome, Florence, Venice, reveal to the guests all the splendor of this country.
The first city that meets tourists on the Italian coast is Bari, the capital of Puglia. This area is very different from the Italy that most tourists expect to see. Endless fields, vineyards, shady olive groves, flowering meadows, white beaches, lonely castles, and small but amazing cities. It seems that it was in these places that the heroes of Italian fairy tales lived, here incredible adventures took place with them, which always brought happiness. And even the Archbishop of Lycian World turned here into a fabulous Santa Claus and Santa Claus, delighting children from all over the world with his New Year gifts. Apulia, an unusual, unexplored land, keeps a lot of amazing and mysterious, and everyone who stays here even for a little while will never regret it.
Bari
Bari itself, one of the oldest cities in Italy, is beautiful and rich in sights: churches, basilicas and palazzo are found here literally at every step. But it is famous first of all for the fact that here, in the Basilica of St. Nicholas, in the center of the old city, the relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker are kept. Thousands of Orthodox pilgrims from all over the world flock to Bari to venerate the relics of the Saint.
In order, at least in general, to appreciate the beauty of old Bari, you must definitely see:
- Cathedral
- Norman castle.
- Palaces of nobles
Alberobello
Not far from Bari, there is one of the most unusual cities, the fabulous Alberobello, with exotic houses - trullo, built of snow-white limestone with cone-shaped roofs painted with mysterious magic symbols. In total, there are about one and a half thousand such buildings, some of them have been here since the XIV century. Now no one lives in them, all trulli are under the auspices of UNESCO. Numerous cafes, shops and souvenir shops are open in the "gnomes' houses". One of the trullo houses the Church of St. Antonio. There is one two-story building that houses a museum.
Matera
But the most unusual city in Italy is Matera. In it, on the slope of the La Gravina gorge, there is a rocky settlement of Sassi de Matera - a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For many centuries, houses were not built here, but were cut out in limestone, and the caves and passages under them formed real labyrinths. In the middle of the twentieth century, the Italian government resettled most of the inhabitants to the new Matera, and the old one became a refuge for sculptors, painters, musicians and other creators. Seeing Matera is a great success, this is a fantastic dream that will never happen again, and if you are lucky, then first of all it is worth seeing
- Complexes of cave churches of Convicinio di Sant Antonio, Madonna delle Virtu and San Nicola dei Graci.
- Monterrone rock outcrop
- Church of Santa Barbara
- Lanfranci Palace
Castel del Monte
Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the mysterious Castel del Monte, one of the most famous castles in the world. It is a regular octahedron, in each corner of which there is also an octahedral tower. The lighting of the castle changes depending on the position of the sun. Who created such a project is unknown. The purpose of this structure also remains a mystery. Some consider it to be an astronomical object.
A few more cities in Puglia will not allow you to pass by indifferently:
- snow-white Ostuni
- golden lecce
- Polignano Mare
- the city of Castellana and its cave complex
Apulia is a sunny Italian fairy tale that will always invite everyone who has seen it at least once.
