Update from February 2023! The place where I stayed, owned and run by A-L and her husband, is now ready for vacation rental (https://www.airbnb.com/h/themonsignors)! Please check it out and I highly recommend you stay with them when you plan your Puglia/Bari visit!!
So…my favorite kind of pizza does have pineapple on it. I “respect” that this combo is abhorred in Italy (they missin’ out, but alrighty then…), and I wouldn’t dare to ask for it at a pizzeria, but that doesn’t leave me with much as a vegetarian in regards to variety…
Verdure pizza is often topped with way too much zucchini and eggplant (my least favorite veggies, haha). Then there are the ones with formaggio on top of formaggio (Chuck E. Cheese would honestly pass out at the sight of quattro formaggi 😅).
So in Italy, I’m glad I at least have Pugliese to turn to—a cheese pizza topped with onion. It’s much simpler than I’d like it to be, but at least it has a delicious, “spicy” vegetable to kick it up a notch!
Pugliese is also related to Puglia, the “heel” of Italy, and Bari it’s capital. I was finally able to venture to the region and meet an online friend IRL last weekend!
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A-L and I met on Instagram as expats in Italy, and she is one of the few people I have kept in touch with after leaving the platform. She was incredibly kind, offering a rental (that she and her husband are renovating) for me to stay in for the weekend I was visiting! Also, she has the cutest rescue in all of Bari:
I could have taken a train to Bari from Milan, but it would have been an arduous ordeal. Thanks to cheap domestic flights (Ryanair comin’ through), I was able to book a flight from Bergamo to Bari for a little over 50 euros. It was also my first time flying out of Bergamo, and it was so much easier to handle than going through Malpensa, or even Linate!
I made it to Bari around noon, and A-L, her husband, and lil Dun Dun were able to pick me up. From there, we drove into the city of Bari…
A-L and her husband brought along two wheels of foccacia from their local foccaceria! One was covered in onions (obviously my favorite) and the other was decked out in tomatoes and olives (pitted). Didn’t snap a pic because I was too hungry to grab my phone—plus, the bread was oily 😅
The city center was small enough to walk around within an hour, to at least see the important stuff.
My favorite was pasta street, and the four-legged guardian at the entrance:
I learned that “ear pasta” (orecchiette) is a Pugliese tradition, and that the homemade versions made by the “little old ladies” of pasta street are often left out to dry like in the tray shown above. How can they be so trusting of the most-likely hungry tourist passing by 🤔?
After the little walking tour of central Bari, we drove about 20 minutes south to A-L and her husband’s real hometown Mola di Bari.
Now this is the Italy I’ve always pictured, he he.
A-L and her husband had English lessons to teach, so I was able to unpack and rest for a bit before we headed out for dinner. But before dinner, there was time for a little aperitivo in the main square. Even though Milan was freezing when I left, it was still a bit cool in the South, even with my jacket…
We went back to central Bari for dinner, which was an interesting experience. A-L really wanted me to try a signature Bari dish, fave e cicorie (fava bean puree and cooked chicory), but the restaurant said they could only make one (instead of three, for all of us present). Uhmmm, okay 🤔? So we ended up splitting a bunch of small plates for dinner, which was fine since I was able to sample a little bit of everything.
I was so excited to get back and go to sleep, but I was also nervous about having to fit in my long run for the week the next morning (a 17 miler—marathon training can’t stop!). The houses in Mola are incredibly cozy, but take caution when climbing up the stairs, haha! A-L’s rental was four floors, with an incredible view of a solitary palm tree and the Adriatic:
The next morning, I got up around 6:00am to have enough time for my run. I already saw some local runners on the road, and took it as motivation. Surprisingly, I felt like I could go on and on! Most of the time, I dread long runs over 13 miles because it’s always hard to fathom the mental as much as the physical distance…but being by the water must have induced a calming effect within me!
Also, cats.
After the run and a warm shower, I was treated to a nice (pea protein) pancake breakfast at A-L’s, her husband’s, and Dun-Dun’s place just a few houses down 😂. I was in the most Italian-esque town possible, and that’s where I satiated a long-standing pancake craving! Go figure.
Immediately after breakfast, we made our way south to some other tiny (yet famous) towns along the coast. It was also starting to drizzle a bit, so we made sure to pack umbrellas. First up was Polignano a Mare, and the views certainly speak for themselves:
A fun fact A-L shared with me was that the original Volare singer was from here. I will admit that when I think of Volare, I immediately think of Vitamin C’s version circa early 2000s/Lizzie McGuire Movie 😂.
While the views were breathtaking, it wasn’t like we could go for a swim with even more clouds looming over us (🌧), so we then headed on over to Monopoli, A-L’s favorite:
Walking around in the cold caused us to develop a craving for something warm, so a coffee break soon followed! I was also treated to a sweet treat that is local to the region—I’ve forgotten the name, but it was a lightly-fried dough spiral doused in honey. Gimme!
We soon returned back to Mola for a quick nap (me!) and A-L wanted to test out the oven in the rental since the kitchen was brand new. That means I was able to taste some fresh banana bread (with chocolate chips and sunflower seeds…too bad I didn’t take a pic!).
It got dark fairly quickly, and there was quite a downpour when we headed back out again. This time A-L wanted to take me to Alberobello and Ostuni, which were other famous Pugliese landmarks more inland.
Alberobello is an “Italian smurf village”. Obviously it’s more “instagrammable” in the sunlight, but it still held its charm in a dark and cold rainy setting.
Then we drove to Ostuni, known as the “white city” due to the majority of the whitewashed buildings that make up the city.
I found the architecture quite gorgeous, and I could take pictures for hours, but my hunger was finally getting to me. We were hoping to dine at a local restaurant and to try some (veg-friendly) regional classics, but of course, the restaurant was closed.
But Plan B was not bad, at all. Because a cute little bistro by the name of Raparossa that specializes in vegan cuisine was ready to welcome us with open arms 😂.
A-L and her husband are both vegan, and I could tell they were more excited than I was to chow down (haha, and I was super hungry and excited so that says something!). Most Italian restaurants are not extremely vegan-friendly (I get by as a vegetarian, getting my fill of milk and eggs, no doubt about that…), so when a restaurant in town offers an all-vegan menu, it’s nice to relax and pick whatever you want without doubt!
We had everything from shared appetizers to dessert. I only took pictures of my main—a risotto that came topped with caramelized grapes and vegan (!!) gorgonzola…
A-L also ordered the risotto (lol), and we both agreed that the “gorgonzola” wasn’t that strong. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing, since “real” gorgonzola actually tastes like soap to me! Haha, fun genetic “mutations” in action 😛.
The restaurant is also involved in community outreach (lol)—they feature some rescue animals on a picture wall near the entrance:
I was able to rest for an extra hour Sunday morning, but a speed workout was calling my name. Thankfully I fueled well, and was able to hit my intervals and complete my workout with a renewed sense of energy. My flight back to Milan was in the afternoon, so the gang and I had a quick breakfast, and walked around Mola again before it was time to head to the airport.
I can only imagine what this quaint Southern Italian town is like in the Spring/Summer…but I loved that I first experienced it in the off-season, rain and all…
Fun fact about the middle pic: if you see a chair with an assortment of vegetables and goods, it means that the “owner” of that chair has more of those items for sale back at their place! It is apparently a custom unique to Mola!
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Knowing that good company makes me feel so, so good still makes me nervous about solo trips going forward. I know if I had visited Bari on my own, I wouldn’t have felt as good as I described here. I’m also not too sure I would have made it to all the tiny towns in a matter of a day, lol. Great company (including furry pets!) truly make such a difference, and make these trips so much more memorable. I semi-joked with A-L that if she ever needs a dog/house-sitter, I will gladly fly back and use my vacation days just to chill with Dun Dun in Bari 😆.
I mean, I was told Bari—Puglia even—is a different beast in the summer…
