
“Puglia, Amalfi and The Med”
This was the name of my recent 19 day tour and cruise package with TripaDeal.
(an on-line travel company)
“Why Italy” was the question asked by family and friends. The answer was simple: To use up the NZ$5,499 credit my friend Joyce, and I, had each been holding since a pre-Covid trip was cancelled. No refunds!. Quite simply, we looked for, and found, a trip which would use up all our credit!
Absolutely amazing value for money! It included all flights, from and back to Auckland, an 8 day guided tour - Rome, up to Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi, before exploring the ruins of Pompeii and then travelling on to the area of Puglia.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Cave Houses of Sassi de Matera was astounding. These natural caves were first occupied in the Paleolithic Age and hewn out of solid rock, gradually burrowed deeper and lived in by peasants and artisans throughout the classical and medieval eras. To-day, Government funding, has enabled many of these to be modernized and are now very valuable real estate. Those developed as boutique hotels are quite simply unique and many are fully booked - at a considerable price!. An advertisement called them “one of Europe’s most exotic new experiences”.
I’d previously seen photos of the conical roofed “Trulli” houses in Alberobello but still found it difficult not to be “trigger happy” with my phone when wandering the streets, both in the evening and early morning. The whitewashed stone houses are built entirely without mortar.
Olives became the dominant crop as we drove towards the east coast and some in our group of 27 (on a 48 seater coach) enjoyed an oil tasting session more than others. We learnt a great deal during our tour of the 98 hectare olive grove, seeing how a natural cave had been extended during earlier days to accommodate an efficient press. Amazing to see trees over 1,000 years old, still producing well, although we had earlier driven for over 30 minutes, seeing thousands of hectares of trees which had died from an un-treatable virus.
A few days later, after enjoying the winding streets of whitewashed Ostuni with its amazing monuments and medieval buildings, the interesting cities of Leece and Monopoli and the historic port of Otranto, we arrived in Bari. We learnt, and saw evidence, that the history of many of the towns on the Adriatic had been influenced by their east facing position resulting in fortified sea walls and castles helping to repel invaders. The following day we transferred to our MSC ship for our 7 day cruise in the Adriatic and Ionian seas.
We cruised as far north as Venice and as far South as Zakynthos (Greece) with all day visits to Dubrovnik, Kotor (Montenegro) and Corfu in between. As is usual, tours of these places were optional extras and our “big spend” was an 8 hour tour from Kotor – worth every Euro!. The history and architecture were stunning.
(Further details of our day in Montenegro will be published separately.)
After a week cruising, we were back to Bari and the following day enjoyed several stops through the 430km journey back to Rome. Two things stood out on the journey (in addition to the never ending Olives and many hectares of Grapes). Poppies, ‘Flanders’ Poppies were in full bloom in many areas creating a wonderful crimson carpet through the countryside. The other thing which surprised me was the proliferation of wind turbines. We seemed to be encircled by them as we drove on and on. As there was very little wind, they didn’t appear to be creating much energy, but definitely dominated the countryside. We had another night in Rome before boarding our evening flight back through Dubai to Auckland.
An amazing holiday, and my earlier fears that it may prove too cheap to be of a good standard were groundless. Everything well organised, excellent guide for the coach segment, good 4 star hotels, excellent cruise with plenty of options for the days in port.
I even “scored” 3 seats on my Auckland to Dubai Airbus A380.800 Economy ticket!
Looking forward to the next trip!
Jaye Howey