Cycling Puglia and Matera This was a hugely enjoyable trip made by our delightful and knowledgeable guide, Marinella Bozzetti . The tour took us through beautiful countryside and fascinating historic towns and the distances and hills were reasonable for regular cyclists with a good level of fitness. I would rate the trip as excellent but felt our tour guide could have done with more back up - at the very least there should be a spare bike of equivalent standard so that bikes could easily be replaced if necessary.
Puglia: Discover Heel of Italy excellent itinerary in covering Puglia in terms of scenery, landscapes, seascapes, distinctive landmarks in towns as covered, participating in or sharing local experience e.g. visit to olive tree groves; olive oil and wine tasting. accommodation in Trulli and formerly cave dwellings in Matera....
Pretty Puglia and magnificent Matera A lovely gentle hiking trip in southern Italy. Walking through olive groves and along an aqueduct. Visiting the Unesco heritage town of Matera with its interesting history and hopefully positive future as a European city of culture. Also the stunningly pretty old town of Alberolbello with its trulli houses. Not to mention the delicious local food and friendly people. Marinella our leader was so enthusiastic and knowledgable about her home region. She also booked some great evening meals and a wine tasting that was also a cheese tasting, so much so that we didn't need any dinner! The visit to the local farm and cheese factory was fun and the dinner that followed there was so big we had to cancel the pasta course! Just one piece of advice would be to avoid the rooms in Matera near to reception as they can be quite noisy with fellow guests in reception and moving between reception and the lift.
