espt-brru

La Puglia

DAY 1 MADRID – ROME – BARI Meeting in Madrid-Barajas Airport at the scheduled time to take a flight to Rome. There we will have a stopover in order to take a flight to Bari. Arrival and meeting with the accompanying guide. Transfer to the hotel. Dinner and lodging.

DAY 2 BARI – CASTEL DEL MOUNT– TRANI – BARI Breakfast. Panoramic tour of the city where we will be able to see how the city queda divided in two parts as if drawing a border between two periods of history clearly defined: the Old City, where artistic and historic monuments like the Basilica of Saint Gregory, the Convent of Saint Benedetto or the Church of Jesus stand out, and the industrial and modern city, where artistic and historic monuments like the Romanesque Basilica of Saint Nicholas, the Norman Svevo Castle or the Romanesque Cathedral of San Sabino are prominent. Lunch in restaurant. Tranfer in coach for Castel del Mount, which asserts itself in the middle of a hill in the Murgia de Apulia as the only ancestral and hunting lodge, of classical, Romanesque, Gothic, Arabic style and even with Renaissance details that stand out due to its noteworthy octagonal shape. After this visit we will continue to Trani, where we will see the famous cathedral in which the rose window and the sculptural ornamentation of the portal are worth noting. Transfer to Bari. Dinner and lodging.

DAY 3 BARI – MATERA – TARANTO – ALBEROBEAUTIFUL Breakfast. In the morning we will take the coach headed for Matera. There we will take a tour through the historic area of the city, where in the lower part we will be surprised by the “Sassis”, spectacular houses excavated in the limestone, as well as the innumerable rupestrian churches that surround the canyon of the city, World Heritage Site since 1993. Tranfer to Taranto, the golf city with the same name of the Ionian Sea. It is called the city of the two seas, -El Great Sea and the Little Sea- since it brushes both. It has always been considered a city of great strategic importance from a comercial and military point of view. Taranto is popular due to the history, art and culture characteristic of the center of the Old City. The Doric Temple and the Crypt of the Redeemer, the Pantaleo Palace and Ayala Valva Palace, the Cathedral of San Cataldo or the Church of Sainy Dominic Maggiore stand out as artistic and architectrual monuments. Lunch in restaurant. Tranfer to Albertobeautiful , arrival and tour of the city that seems to have been taken from a fairy tale and in which vegetation abounds, especially olive tres. destacan The trulli, a popular form of architecture white in color and crowned with grey conical roors with religious or other esoteric symbols at the peak and declared World Heritage Site in 1996 give a magical and enchanted tomes to the town, and they will make this visit a delicious reminder to enjoy with the five sences every little corner. Transfer to the hotel. Dinner and lodging.

DAY 4 ALBEROBEAUTIFUL – LOCOROTONDO – OSTUNI – LECCE Breakfast. In the morning we will take a short journey by coach to arrive in Locorotondo, a small and not very touristic city, capital of valley d’Itria, which is located on a rise and receives its name due to its caracteristic circular forms. The historic center of the city is a Historic Grouping of small white houses placed in concentric rings. Its classicist church and the “cummerse”, a type of autoctonous contruction from the area, stand out. After this visit we will again take the coach to Ostuni to take a tour of the city that is considered one of the most important cultural centers in the area of Salento. Lunch in restaurant. The charm of this city lies in the beautiful white walls of the houses in the Old City that get that color from being covered in white limestone. The Cathedral stands out, since all the streets lead there, such that inevitably we will run into it. It is a late Gothic Church with a striking rose window. We will have time to get lost in its every narrow streets with a medieval atmosphere to arrive in the Piazza della Libertá. Transfer in coach to Lecce where we will take a tour of a city, that is marked by its baroque style observable in all of its monumental constructions in the center. It is a city whose style is strongly marked by a particular richness and an exuberance in its decorations that seem to want to hide the constructions more than decorate them. Therefore, and not in vane, is is known as the Florence of the South. We will stop to see the Cathedral, the Residence of the Bishop, the Seminary, and the bell tower among others monuments in the area. Transfer to the hotel. Dinner and lodging.

DAY 5 LECCE – GALATINA – GALLIPOLLI – OTRANTO – LECCE Breakfast. In the morning we will leave for Galatina, marvelous city nestled among millenary olive groves and vineyards that guard the Basilica of Saint Catherine of Alexandría, overwhelming and amazing. After this visit we will continue on to Gallipolli, city that is divided in two parts, the Borgo, which is the new part of the city, and the historic center, constructed on a limestone island connected to the main island by a bridge from the 16th century. It is a city with large number of monuments, churches and castles which are found for the most part in the center of the city. The small island measures more than one kilometer and a half and is characterized by a mixture of converging alleys and small streets between which rises strikingly the imposing purely baroque cathedral. Gallipolli also stands out for its gorgeouss beaches crystaline water and white sand. Lunch in restaurant. Departure for Otranto, the most eastern city in Italy. In the oldest part of the city we will be able to observe the enchanting districts inside the Aragonese wall, with white houses and narrow streets cobbled with bare stones. The imposing Castle of Otranto dominated the city for centuries. Its history is principally connected, first to the sad event of the Turkish seige in 1480 and later to the Aragonese assault, who decided to extend its fortress with large towers equpped with cannons. Then we will walk through the streets of these marvelous medieval districts to arrive in the Cathedral of Otranto, which is characterized by its Romanesque-Pugliese façade with a prominent rosewindow from the Renaissance with Gothic-Arab infuences that contains the skulls of the citizens decapitated during the Battle of 1480. In addition, there is a marvelous and very attractive mosaic and the crypts are also particularly interesting. Transfer to Lecce. Dinner and lodging.

DAY 6 LECCE – BRINDISI – ROME Breakfast and departure for Brindisi, where we will take a flight to Rome at 11:15. Arrival in Rome at 12:30. Transfer to the hotel to leave the luggage. Lunch in restaurant in the area of Saint Paul. In the afternoon, at 6:00 P.M., we will have the opportunity to attend the opera Don Pasquale in the Theater Dell ´Opera Di Roma. Afterward we will be able to stroll through the area and afterward we will enjoy Dinner in a restaurant from the area. Lodging.

DAY 7 ROME Breakfast. At 12 o’clock noon we will be able to pray the Angelus in Saint Peter’s Square with His Holiness, Pope Francis. After that, we will haev lunch in a restaurant in the area of Piazza Re di Rome, and at 2:15 P.M. we will leave in coach in order to take an enological tour to Frascati, where we will visit one of the oldest and prettiest vineyards in the region of Frascati. There also we will be able to enjoy a tasting of three different wines. In the afternoon we will return a Rome, where we will have free time. Dinner and lodging.

DAY 8 ROME – MADRID Breakfast. Morning free and At the scheduled time we will take the coach que nos llevará al airport to take a flight for a Madrid. Arrival and END OF TRIP