Upon arrival in Otranto we were welcomed by the Italian version of the “Blue Angles” Fleet Week Airshow. It was so special since Fleet Week in San Francisco is one of my favorite weekends of the year. The town was filled with spectators that continued the celebration through the night in the Old Town with live music, dancing and food. What a fun way to spend the first night!
Otranto is technically in Salento (not Puglia). It’s the most Eastern city in Italy with a beautiful Old Town, harbor and coastline. We discovered some great shops in Old Town – purchased some linens, towels and shoes. It was hard not to buy more – but we didn’t have any way of bringing it home unless we shipped. Next time, bringing an empty suitcase! Italian linens are BEAUTIFUL!
Relais Valle Dell’Idro
We stayed at Relais Valle Dell’Idro. The hotel was considered four stars and I would not 100% agree with that. The rooms were a little dated and the outside amenties were as depicted in the photographs. The hotel was clean and the breakfast was delicious. Being about a 5 minute walk from Old Town, we would have rather stayed closer to the beach. Our first choice of accommodations was B&B Lungomare, but that was already booked. Highly suggest staying here and if we end up back in Otranto we will book earlier! (Though, we also suggest staying at Masseria Muntibianchi…see below for more details)
Balconcino d’oriente
We arrived in Oranto on a Sunday which also happened to their “Fleet Week”, so a lot of the restaurants were closed early. Luckily the restaurant we wanted to try, Blaconcino d’oriente was open! It’s a quaint restaurant outside of Old Town that is part of a B&B. We started with burrata and selected two types of pasta – orecchiette and strozzapreti with tomato sauce. The strozzapreti melted in my mouth – it was soooo fresh. The orecchiette was devine – the sauce that covered the pasta was light yet held enough flavor to coat the mini-bowl style pasta. It was such a lovely restaurant and the staff was friendly. We ended our meal with gelato – one of the best gelato we had on our trip!
Masseria Muntibianchi
We discovered Masseria Muntibianchi through our captain/owner of Tortuga boat. He had suggested it to us while on our trip and made us reservations for dinner. After looking at photos online, we feel in love and wanted to change our hotel to stay there! Unfortunately they were fully booked, so we couldn’t change. Being about a 10 minute tuk tuk drive outside of town, Masseria Muntibianchi exceeded our expectations. The property was in the middle of olive trees and was the most dreaming location for a wedding. We were seated at a table on the patio underneath twinkle lights. The ambiance was low-key and relaxing. We could hear nature….the bugs making noise (it was a peaceful sound), the olive tree branches swaying in the light wind and of course wine bottles being popped! For dinner, we started with the fried squash blossoms and then each ordered a pasta dish. Seafood pasta and the tortellini. AMAZING! The tortellini was my favorite dish. The light sauce – chunks of yellow and red tomatoes in a white wine sauce complimented the oversized cheese filled tortellini. After eating and touring the property we truly wish we were staying here….next time! BOOK EARLY! As a souvenir I purchased some olive oil that is made on the property and used by the restaurant. Very good !
Bagno Marino Archi (Santa Cesarea)
An Italian Beach Club doesn’t get any better than this! We spent the day at Bagno Marino Archi in Santa Cesarea. To get there, we hired a driver Blue Line (+39 329 565 5235) to pick us up round trip. Cost was 30 Euro total…worth it! We reserved beach chairs and an umbrella a couple weeks before going – highly suggest especially if you go on the weekend. Onsite, the beach club had a restaurant (pizza was tasty!) and beverages for purchase. We had such a relaxing day jumping in and out of the water, capturing those “Italian moments” on camera. If you are looking for a traditional Italian beach club – go to Bagno Marino Archi!
Tortuga Excursions Boat Day
Boat Days are always my favorite part of the holiday. We took Tortuga Excursions out for 3 hours on our first full day in Otranto. Fabrizio was the best ! He packed us a lovely lunch and took us to his favorite spots on the coastline. We even swam in the most eastern point of Italy! For the food – we had some typical food of the region – bread with tomato and olive oil, eggplant stuffed with tuna and some mini zucchini frittata. Or course some vino too! One of the highlights of the trip was taking the GoPro (Fabrizio let us use the one he had on the boat) and took it in the caves with us. The water was unreal and the cliffside of these coves were picturesque. Highly suggest hiring Tortuga for the day – its well worth the money!
Agli Angeli Ribelli
Skafe Baguetteria
Otranto, you were beautiful and if the Beckhams holiday there, T.W.O. can too !! Grazie Mille.
Last time we were in Dublin, it was winter time, cold, rainy and dark for the majority of the day. We still had a great time, but this visit was especially perfect because we had sunshine, blue skies, and warm weather! Having only 2 days in Ireland, we made the most of it – visited Book of Kells (since it was closed last time), National Gallery of Ireland and Merrion Square. The highlight of the trip was our hike from Bray to Greystones. Find out more below about our trip to the coast!
As much as we loved the city of Prague, we wanted to get out to the countryside to experience the real Czech culture and see some smaller villages. After doing some research, we found – 