Nolana,

You seem to have a lot of knowledge about the Gargano Peninsula. I will be visiting there (as well as the Lecce area) in July 2005. Do you have any recommendations for restaurants in the region? We are also interested in visiting a winery. Any Ideas?

Thank You,

Carol

The Gargano is similar to the Amalfi coastline, but it's not the mirror image!! Spectacular white limestone walls that slopes down in the blue sea, golden sandy beaches, clear water, sea caves whose colors will surprise you.... and a beautiful inner part, with paths for mountain bike and walkers in a big National Park, marvellous wild orchids from March to May. And, along the coast, somewhere you can find towers and "trabucchi" (kind of ancient fishing machines).

It worth a visit!

Hi Carol (CAFWO5),

It's about six years since my last visit to the Gargano - but I really enjoyed it and won't forget it !

We stayed in two places -Marina di Lesina - which is a small seaside town (self catering accommodation found for us by friends) and frequented at that time only by Italians. It's by Lake Lesina. The restaurants there all served wonderful seafood - and even what appeared to be a small 'caffe-bar' on the outskirts of town (where the daily fruit and veg. market was held in the mornings) did lovely meals. The owners were all very friendly and offered us free liqueurs in exchange for conversation (in Italian and very basic English) - after the meal ! The owner was a retired sea-captain and the family had sponsored children from the Chernobyl disaster - all lovely people. There was only one 'proper' hotel - so it should come up on a web search. The local wine was good too. This area was also close enough for trips to places in the next region such as Termoli - where you can get boat trips to the islands.

We were in the area for a wedding. Our friends live in Torremaggiore - which is inland and at the time reminded me of the 1950s in Naples - in atmosphere - girls still chaperoned etc. We were the only foreigners - save for a lost German couple who happened on the place in their car. The 1950s atmosphere meant that we and they (all of us taller and paler than the locals) were 'watched' - but not threateningly - just out of curiosity ! It has lovely historic churches, a castle and a beautiful fountain. We also visited Lucera with another castle to visit - and gardens and we had a great meal in a restaurant there in the main square not far from the castle. All local Italians in the restaurant, clerks from the local bank - no foreign tourists (or even Italian ones) to be seen in the town at all at that time, six years ago - and it was August.

Torremaggiore also only had one small 'proper' hotel at the time. Our French friends (also invited to the 'mixed nationality' wedding !) chose to stay there and said it was really nice and friendly. I expect you'll find a website for that one too if you do a search, as that's how they found it.

San Severo is the nearest largish town - they all have things to see - so there's no lack of places to visit. Other friends/relatives stayed at a big hotel near the station here.

We were entertained by our friends most of the time except for our meals when we stayed at Lesina - so I don't have restaurant details to give you. We hired a car in San Severo and were quite intrigued to have our 'insurance premium' returned to us after the car hire period - 'because you didn't have an accident' ! The car was good, no mechanical problems etc. and useful, as we drove all round and over the bits you could access of the Gargano Peninsular and National Park and went to Sant'Angelo with its basilica etc. and there's also San Giovanni Rotondo to visit (huge - modern church / hospitals etc. all since (Saint) Padre Pio's fame at the monastery there.

I don't think the Gargano is as well known to tourists as the other end of Puglia - with the Trulli houses - etc. But the Germans have certainly discovered it - they were the only tourists we met at the time and only on the peninsula itself. I believe they knew of it because there were Germans stationed in the area during WWII.

We took a flight to Naples - as we had other friends to visit en route, but other wedding guests flew to Rome and caught a train there. There is an area when you drive between Campania and Puglia known as the 'breadbasket' of Italy - with incredibly huge wheat fields - and then there's acres of olive groves and great fields of tomatoes and other vegetables and fruits, and the vineyards, of course. The olive groves go on and on - and because the trees are short and stocky - and the scale so large, it looks as if the area is just scrubland with bushes, till you realise it's actually lots of olive trees ! It's very fertile. The countryside in the hinterland is lovely - as well as the area round the Gargano - all totally different from each other. And as another person on the site has mentioned - the Gargano is not really a mirror image of the Amalfi Coastline in that respect - only in the fact that it has narrow, bendy roads and beautiful sea-views and cliffs with the sort of little villages with houses perched higgledy piggledy above one another on terraces.

I don't know how touristy the area is now - but, if you're going to an area that's still undiscovered by the majority of tourists you'll enjoy finding restaurants and other delights yourselves - read up about the area before you go. Try websearches for tourist information offices / or just the name of a town - and find travel books in a library - if you don't want to buy books. You can look up bus time-tables on the web: www.orariautobus.it and trains on www.trenitalia.com (or www.trenitalia.it) Hope you have a great time ! Best wishes, Nolana