Trip to Polignano a Mare, Italy
The first time that I ever heard of Polignano a Mare was during a long Facebook feed scrolling session. I came across a promotional image of cliff-side restaurant called Ristorante Grotta Palazzese. We were overwhelmed by the natural beauty and interesting architecture.
Amanda and I looked at each other and both said, "Let's go!"
We happened to be in England at the time visiting her family, so it was a cheap quick flight from London to southern Italy. Truth be told, the Facebook pictures did not do it justice; so I had to take some of my own!
As soon as the sun came up, we rushed down to the restaurant to see if we could get a reservation for the evening. Sadly, it was closed for renovations. I guess we should have called ahead! Anyway, as you can see in the above picture, we were able to have a peek at the balcony from a ledge further along the path.
All was well, though because this town has a lot more to offer than just a cliff-side restaurant. There are countless hidden gems. Interestingly, we didn't see a single English speaking tourist the entire time we were there. It seems that Polignano a Mare is mostly unknown to people outside of Italy.
Here are some amazing views of the beautiful coastline.
One interesting character that we met on our walks was Antonio Cavaliere. A local man with loads of great stories to tell - if you can sort of understand Italian that is. I might add that we didn't meet a single person in town who would speak more than a word of English. So be prepared to do a lot of hand signing!
This town would be great to grow up in; with endless tunnels, nooks & crannies to explore.
About this time we started to get a bit hungry. Time to find out what this little town has to offer in the way of food! We were not disappointed. but first, a walk around town. The streets are very narrow, and all one way. I'm glad we weren't driving.
One thing that made it easier to not get lost was the fact that the entire town is in a perfect grid. If you get lost, just head in the direction of the sea!
Polignano a Mare is one huge grid of walkways. You could never accuse this town of not making it easy to get around!
There are so many paths to get back to where you started that a wrong turn doesn't necessarily get you that far out of the way.
One of the more peculiar features of Polignano a Mare is the tiny doors. At first I thought that these doors were just small storage units on the side of buildings, but it turns out that they are the actual entrances to peoples' homes! I watched people duck in and out of them all day. Some people had shutters open and you could see them talking and drinking cafe.
Keep in mind that the woman in the above shot is exactly 5 foot tall! We were so fascinated by the doors of Polignano that we took dozens of pictures around town. We plan to publish a book of these doors. What do you all think? When we were there, we got the distinct impression that the residents went to a lot of trouble to give their family's door it's own personality and style. Perhaps because the city-block sized building are all so similar in appearance.
What was I originally talking about? Oh yeah! Food. Interestingly, it looks like I already took a chomp out of this yummy snack. I knew that waiter was looking guilty. The food was fantastic. I couldn't get enough bread, cheese, pizza and wine.
After lunch, we had a walk along the coast where we came across this beast:
Whoever drives that hot-rod must be really popular with the ladies! It seems there were more post-apocalyptic areas of town to explore further down coast. Well, more like where the cool kids go to vandalize abandoned property. Check out this rusted out door. Wow!
Then there is this tap. I was really worried about the brown thing in the bowl until I realized it was just a plastic bag.
Here is another interesting view along the coastal path. It looks as though there was something under construction that never quite got finished.
Although there are many more great shots that I could put in this post, I think that will be enough for now! I will leave you all with my favorite spot in town. We sat out here for hours at a time just relaxing in the breeze and listening to the waves crash on the shore. I will never forget this beautiful little town in Southern Italy. I hope you all enjoyed!
Closing note: This is a repost from my 2nd ever entry; right after my introduction post last year (with a few tweaks).
I was quite disappointed that it only got about 4 upvotes which leads me to believe that no one saw it. This place is an absolute hidden gem in Italy and deserves recognition! Please upvote and resteem to get the word out!
You are a very good and unpretentious story teller and nevertheless can transport such a specific mood to your texts. Well done.
Italy is a really interesting country to visit. I only were there once and I fell in love with architecture, food and art.
Your idea to publish a book with that little doors I do like a lot. Doors being used as identity representatives for the people living there, what artistic folks do live there?
LOL, I like that you admire that guy without even having understood him.
A bon bon in the end: The Borg cube. Bummer, you could not talk to the locals, they probably are the ones responsible for rescuing Picard.
I think, no one should know of this place. It should remain in the secret corners of that land ... smile, just kidding. ... or not?
Pleasure to have found you.
Hi @erh.germany, thanks for stopping by! I really appreciate your comments, it is encouraging to hear that my work is appreciated.
So I had the same experience as you, falling in love with the food, architecture and art. This was our 3rd trip to Italy. The first was to Rome, then second to Florence and then this one. Rome and Florence were obviously fantastic because of the art and history, but Polignano is a really special place to me because I really felt like I came to understand the heart of the Italian people there. As I mentioned in the post, there were very few foreign tourists there so it really felt like we were getting the authentic Italian experience.
The book idea is definitely still in the back of my head. We took so many pictures of doors and they are all so unique! I really intend to do it, so it is just a matter of setting aside the time and putting the effort into it. But I will do it! hehe
Oh yeah, that guy with the guitar was such a lovely guy. I have no idea how we managed it, but somehow we had a conversation with him for about an hour or so. We used hand symbols, and he knew the odd English word; plus I could understand some Italian by converting it into Spanish. He was telling us about how his father was a famous stunt man in Italian movies. Then he sang us a bunch of songs and put Amanda's name in the lyrics. Such a sweet person!
LOL! Maybe Locutus was in that Borg cube. Poor Captain Picard!
So maybe Polignano should remain a secret. I would hate too much tourism to ruin it, but it is hard not to talk about it. This trip was a couple of years ago and I did notice that they were building a hotel on the outskirts of town. I am sure that it's done by now and I hope that it doesn't change the feel of the town.
... Rarely one makes the experience not understanding each other by language. I can remember some scenes in my childhood and also during vacation in Spain. It's funny and interesting to get along only with gestures and facial expressions. Like a theatre play! Within working space it is truly annoying and I always appreciate to have a translator next to me when I talk to foreigners.
Good luck with that book of doors. Or I should say: Good start as it's always just a matter of beginning.
Locutus just flew by but I was not interesting enough to be assimilated.
... Polignano ... ? what is that? ;-)
awesome photos and a great write up. i'm jealous!
Thanks, buddy. Yeah it would have been hard to not get great photos - this place was insanely beautiful. When you first walk between the building into the opening and see the coastline, you get a physical shock. I've seen a lot of coasts, but this one takes the cake.
Of course this is just my opinion and experience, but I feel pretty confident that just about anyone would be blown away.
Wow... your pictures are absolutely amazing!!
Hey, thanks! But to be fair, it might be hard to take bad photos in such an amazing environment. I appreciate your comment!
Such a beautiful place although not much people I see around there @nuthman but I am glad that yo enjoyed your tour in that peculiar place in Italy and if only most Italians speak English when dealing with tourist it might be more better but at least you get to know that part of Italy.
I was a little stressed out to start with by the fact that we couldn't effectively communicate with anyone because when we showed up to our bed and breakfast, there was no one there! Our cell phones we not set up to work in Italy so we had no way to call anyone. Luckily we met some nice people on the street that let us use their phones to call the B&B owners and got it all sorted out.
But I think it was great to stretch our thinking caps a bit to solve some problems that non-English people have to deal with all the time when visiting our country. It was an adventure, for sure.
so many fantastic places to discover, such as this one.
A couple of observations:
about the narrow streets - have you ever been to Toledo, Spain? Most streets there are so narrow that when a car comes, you have to duck into a doorway. These old towns were not built for cars.
Gepetto's workshop: we have one like that in Vienna, called Pinocchio on Augustinerstraße 7, 1010 Wien - there is a large one sitting outside the shop on a bench.
No, I haven't been to Spain yet. That is definitely on my list. Some of the street were like that in this little town as well; I had to duck into the doorways. Others were just wide enough to get a car parked on the side, while another car could drive down it as well. But on those streets the car was almost touching the wall! Agreed, for sure not built for cars.
I'd like to go to Vienna one day as well. my 3nd great grandfather was from the kingdom of Prussia and my ggg grandmother was from Austria. My original name is actually Nuthmann with 2 Ns, but they dropped one in America.
Should you ever decide about Vienna (and I am still around and kicking), give me a shout! Spring is the best time. Spain: for me that was the only time so far, and only because I participated in an exhibition there: Dreams and Divinities in Toledo, March 2013
going to Paris and Sedan early October to exhibit with the same group of people.
But my friend Caroline Schell lives in Marbella, Spain, and it is on my list to visit her also.
Why does the first picture reminded me of Barbie Princess and the Pauper? The cliff side looks the same as where the girl (a pauper) used to live as a tailor.
Haha. Yeah, this place has a lot of scenery that looks like fantasy creations. Those cliffs look unreal to me. As if they were sculpted that way on purpose for a movie.
I guess you can say scenery on movies have real basis.
This beautiful Polignano a Mare story has been featured yesterday in our travel curation post #1 and upvoted by our curation voting trail. Excellent photo story, @nuthman.
Thank you! It was a wonderful experience and highly recommended.
Lovely place! Thank you for the interesting photos!
You're welcome, @sweettais. Thanks for looking, as always.
I love Italy, a while ago I was selling T-shirts with illustrations of Italy on the internet, beautiful country, beautiful culture.
Yeah, someday I'd love to go back. There is a lot to see there! Thanks, Mcfly.
I will say in my opinion many great posts.
Thank you very much :)