Day Tripping, Beach Timing and Cathedral Touring

Friday, September 06, 2024
Monopoli, Apulia, Italy
Thursday morning, we headed up to the train station and caught the 9:20 train for the 5 minute ride back up the coast to the small town of Polignano A Mare, home of one of the most famous and most photographed beaches in Italy, Lama Monachile.  And, in this case, the word "beach" is used in the most extremely loose sense.  People do sit there and go swimming there, but the surface of the area ranges from boulders to large rocks.  But the setting is truly spectacular, with the cliffs rising to town on both sides and the Ponte Romano behind.  We wandered the old town a bit, checking out some of the views.  Besides the beach, Polignano a Mare is also known as the home of Domenico Modugno, of "Volare" fame.
Then we took a 1 1/2 hour boat tour along the coast to poke our noses into a number of the caves that the area is also famous for and go for a dip.  Then, after a bit of lunch (I had a gourmet hot dog, which was actually very good!), we finally made our way down to the "beach", which was crowded, but not packed like sardines as I have seen it in photos from high season.  Our deliberations about whether to risk our tailbones by sitting somewhere on the rock-strewn landscape were cut short by a thunderstorm rolling in.  We decided to head back to the train station as the winds really started howling and debris was blowing everywhere.  We never did get really wet--it was spitting and threatening but held off.  We made it home without a problem and, since we had a late lunch after our boat trip, we decided to skip dinner and stay in, after we had cleaned up and gotten the salt off of ourselves.
Friday was a beach day.  We started off heading towards Porto Paradiso, which had been recommended to us, but we were also checking out several other beaches along the walk.  Of course, there was Porta Vecchia, right outside the old town walls.  Then there were the white, red and green beaches, Porto Bianco, Porto Rosso and Porto Verde, before reaching Paradiso.  Well, Paradiso wasn't really our kind of place, too much of a private club feel.
So, we backtracked to Porto Rosso, where we spent a few hours, part of it on the crowded sand and then moving up onto the grassy area on the side of the bay, which had more space, a nice breeze and a great view.  After a while, we headed almost next door for a very good, big, seafood lunch at La Perla Nera, which is actually on yet another beach, Porto Nero (the black beach).  
We came home and rinsed off before heading back out to go and finally see the interior of the cathedral, just at the end of our street.  It is an extremely lavish building inside, and the crypt museum underneath is also quite neat.  
Saturday, off to see the "White City".
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