Giovinazzo And A Wind Of Change

It’s our last full day in Puglia as we approach the end of the next part of our mission to see the world in stages. So for today we return to probably the prettiest place we’ve seen on this trip, the lovely coastal town of Giovinazzo. 

This beautiful ancient town nestles around the quaintest of harbours, the deep blue of the sea and the sky forming the perfect backdrop. It’s a quiet town, very different from the resort of Polignano yesterday, and has a delightfully peaceful character, its hushed cobbled streets keeping its secrets of centuries. 

A large open piazza lies in front of the duomo, attractive restaurants on two sides. The old town, high up on one side of the harbour, is home to narrow streets with vivid flowers hung from balconies, climbing walls and filling pots. The place just oozes charm.

There’s a stiff breeze blowing in off the Adriatic today though, and surf is appearing where all week we have seen only calm waters. As we take time to soak up this lovely place and the intense sun, the stiff breeze gathers pace until by the time we’ve had lunch, the whole character has changed. The wind howls in, the waves crash up and over the rocks, surf swirls around the harbour walls and now nobody braves the sea. What was beautiful when calm is now both beautiful and exhilarating; it’s impossible not to love the changing moods of the sea.

Talking of lunch, we have come to Giovinazzo by train today in order to return to the restaurant La Cucciara and enjoy wine with our food this time; but unfortunately it is not open on Mondays! A typical old trattoria by the harbour fills in nicely.

And so to our last night in Molfetta. One last sunset, then, obviously, we have to go for a drink at Mario’s, where our farewell gift is a shot of mezcal, the very drink we “enjoyed” in its home location of Oaxaca just a few months ago. And so for our last evening meal it’s back to Vetusta Nursia, where for the second night in a row we eat horse meat, amongst other things, and take our last carafe of the red wine which is so good round here.

Puglia has been great, Molfetta has been a terrific base from which to explore the area. 

Trains leave here direct for Bologna, the so called culinary capital of Italy. If only we…….