Beautiful towns like Ostuni, Monopoli, Trani, and Polignano a Mare are all within a 45-minute train ride from Bari Centrale station.
Ostuni took my breath away. I climbed up and down countless stairs to explore the hilltop city. I found myself surrounded by a maze of churches and white buildings, with splashes of vibrant color on their doors and window shutters.
Monopoli is tiny, but I loved ambling through the old alleys, which often had intricately detailed arches at their entrances, and walking the small stretch of the port to a red-and-white-striped lighthouse.
My favorite spot is Polignano a Mare, a coastal town with ancient white buildings perched atop a limestone cliff.
From there, I could spend hours taking in the spectacular views of the Adriatic Sea. For a closer look at the water, I walked under the Ponte Borbonico, an iconic bridge, to the picture-perfect pebble beach.
As the final stop of the day, I grabbed a caffè speciale — a coffee with cream, amaretto, and lemon peel — at a famous ice cream and coffee shop called Il Super Mago del Gelo before making my way back to Bari.
Nearly a year later, I still haven’t stopped thinking about my time in Bari. Although I made a rule not to revisit the same location twice on my annual Italy trip, I will absolutely make an exception for Bari.
