I was fortunate enough to visit Polignano a Mare on the east coast of Italy in October, it's not far away from the airport at Bari, and a beautiful place to visit. We stayed in a single story house just outside the town, but no more than 10 minutes from the nearest wonderful bakery, bars and restaurants. On the first evening we arrived just before it went dark, and quickly took a few photos, first the beautiful view from the terrace at the front of the house:
and from there down to the bay just down the road
where we saw fishing boats in a cove
a small island in the bay near where we were staying, along with the trees, a great marker
The next day we went to have a look at the town, walking along the seafront, we came across the fabulous Museo Pino Pascali, a former abattoir.
From there we found the cliffs described in guides to the town: 'A shining gem on the coast of the Valle d’Itria,
perched atop a 20 metre-high limestone cliff above the crystal clear
waters of the Adriatic, Polignano a Mare truly lives up to its name and
literally could not be any more ‘at sea’!
The origins of this enchanting place date back to the 4th century BC when Greek settlers founded the city of Neapolis. It flourished under the Romans and was important enough for Emperor Trajan to direct his Via Traiana, built between 108-110 AD, through the town. Remains of this road include a bridge at Lama Monachile, just north of the historic centre.
From the Thinking Traveller website
'Polignano is famous throughout the world for three things. First of all
is, as hinted at above, cliff diving. In recent years the town has
hosted the Red Bull diving competition, attracting crowds of 45,000
people in 2010! Second is its outstanding ice-cream, which you really
cannot afford to miss on a hot summer’s evening. The third and possibly
most famous export of Polignano a Mare, however, is the great Domenico
Modugno, who wrote and sang numerous classic songs, including the
massive international hit, Volare (originally entitled Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu)!
The locals are incredibly proud of their favourite son and rightly so.
As you wander through the streets that inspired such a wonderful song,
you might well find yourself involuntarily singing or whistling, “Volare, oh,oh… Cantare, oh,oh,oh,oh… Nel blu dipinto di blu… felice di stare lassù…”.
This is the view one would get when jumping off the cliffs, seemed a bit high to me
Above another view of the beach, and below looking from the Roamn remains where you cna see the original bridge and the new bridge in the background, nearer the sea.
The origins of this enchanting place date back to the 4th century BC when Greek settlers founded the city of Neapolis. It flourished under the Romans and was important enough for Emperor Trajan to direct his Via Traiana, built between 108-110 AD, through the town. Remains of this road include a bridge at Lama Monachile, just north of the historic centre.
From the Thinking Traveller website
Another view of the cliffs
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