Day 15

Last night at Giovinazzo and searching for a restaurant at 7pm was not a success so we followed the locals and promenaded around the town square like the locals and found a bar like the locals and eventually staggered through the winding alleyways to find a restaurant like the locals. Still can't see why they refuse to serve the hordes of tourists until 8.30pm.

Up at 6.30 am this morning and packed up to move to our next location.  First stop the town of Martina Franca, a gracious town with gems of Baroque architecture in the usual labyrinth of narrow streets.  And of course a church and a cathedral or two to make this town high on a hill a pleasure to visit.

Then we set sail for the town of Polignano, again in the old town and in an apartment hanging on a cliff overlooking the Adriatic Sea.  Now this place is fantastic, hope the photos do it justice but 30 metres above the water and over a cave.  Just to prove it they have a glass panel in the floor of the bedroom that shows the water from the ocean surging around and a steep staircase down to the cave from inside the apartment.  Hope there are no sleepwalkers tonight.

Then the highlight of the trip so far, walked down 20 metres of stairs into a cave, then along a narrow walkway under a cliff and overlooking the ocean until we reached a restaurant built over the water and inside a cave.  This restaurant called the Grotto Palazzese was sensational in terms of menu and service.  We limited ourselves to 6 courses and every mouthful was amazing. Yes it was more than 10 euros each but worth every dollar.  If anyone wants an amazing experience then this is the place.

Hope the photos show even a small part of the adventure we had today.

Evening walk around the harbour at Giovinazzo waiting for the restaurant to open.

Fisherman preparing their nets alongside the Marina.

Martina Franca and the walk up to the square.

The church in the square at Martina Franca.

Inside the same church.

Inside the museum at Martina Franca.

The external staircase down to the grotto under the apartment.

View from our balcony at the apartment in Polignano 

View in other direction from the balcony.

Apartment living/dining area

Then the adventure down into the cave restaurant just above the ocean.

From the restaurant looking out over the Adriatic Sea.

This was one great restaurant  !!

Then along came a diver who realised he had an audience and after more than enough time eventually hurled himself off the ledge to the sea some 20 metres below.

The belly flop he made in front of the restaurant patrons bought a huge laugh as he limped across to the waiting boat.

The staircase on the right leads up to our apartment.

All the locals at the beach just around the corner.  No sand, just pebbles.