Pulia is also known for its coastline, and on this trip we visited several of the sea-side towns.

southern Italy map with coastal towns inset location

Puglia coast towns we visited

Towns we visited

Brindisi

Brindisi has a charming Italian coastal vibe, with clean and mostly quiet streets (especially after a week in Bari) on a warm Saturday afternoon. The buildings were mostly made of pale stone, with occasional sea views down alleys.

We had reserved an outdoor table for lunch at La Locando, which was quite busy. Thank God for shade and a light breeze, as it was a warm afternoon! I had a rosé with the Sfiziosa pizza, while Leandra paired a negroamaro with the tuna crudo. The pizza was very good, diminished only a little by the nuisance flies in the alleyway.

After lunch we explored town for a bit, including the Tempio San Giovanni al Sepolcro (from the Crusades), the Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista, the Museo Archeologico Francesco Ribezzo and the Roman columns along the water.

 

Overall, a pretty town that was nice to walk around.

Poligrano a Mare

The town was surprisingly busy on a Thursday afternoon and the free parking area was full. Instead, we found a spot in a small lot down the street by the train tracks, and walked about 15 minutes into town. Our first destination was Ponte Borbonico su Lama Monachile, a bridge famous for views of the town’s little cove beach.

And then around the corner…

We had hoped to go to a focaccia place for lunch, but it was unexpectedly closed. On our way to check out another place (also closed) we found Number One Pucceria was open! So for lunch we each got a sandwich with the local puccia bread, me the ham, sundried tomato, rocket, and stracciatella, served warm, and Leandra the mortadella, stracciatella and pistachio, served cool. Their bread was quite light, somewhat pita like, and both were great.

Re-fortified, we walked through old town, finding quite a few overlooks with ocean views, plus plant and flower filled stairs. The town was busy but not overcrowded.

 

We walked all the way down to edge of town, then to MOREA Gelatieri dal 1990 for gelato. I got the small, coffee and chocolate – coffee was intense, really good. Surprisingly, the cone was a double-walled wafer cone, the only one on the trip like that. While we were there Leandra saw they had the Leccese coffee, so she got to try that while I enjoyed my gelato.

Monopoli

We parked in a free zone, and walked in about 10 minutes. Along the way we realized the blue parking was free from from 1:30-4pm, so we could have saved ourselves some steps. Once in town we walked along the old harbor for views, then through town, including several churches.

 

Monopoli was perfectly pleasant, but I think we both liked Poligrano a Mare a little more.