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© Kudu Travel Limited
The leading specialists in cultural walking tours
We specialise in guided cultural walking holidays with music festivals, opera, art & architecture, birdwatching, wildlife and gourmet food & wine.
For expert, friendly advice on this tour
please call us on +44 (0) 1722 716167
or email
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Our Palazzo's grounds

Trip Dates: 21 - 28 September 2010
Trip Duration: 8 days 
Trip Price: £1,690 per person
Single room supplement: £260 
Deposit: £200 per person
Baroque in Lecce

Activity level: Short undemanding walks on good paths and some stonier ground. Opportunity to swim every day.
Temperatures: Temperatures in late September vary from 28°C during the day down to 18°C in the evenings.
Drying tomatoes

Meeting place: Bari Airport
Meeting time:  21 September 2010 16.20 
Departure place: Bari Airport
Departure time:  28 Sep 2010 17.05 
Our Palazzo's dining hall

Accommodation:
- A privately owned 16C Palazzo, originally a castle,  is our home for the week. Superbly restored by the owners, the Palazzo has spacious rooms, wonderful vaulted ceilings, an immense drawing room opening out onto terraces overlooking the main courtyard and, of course, enormous kitchens.
Size of party: This trip will run with a minimum of 4 & a maximum of 14 guests.
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Olive Oil and Orecchiette - Cooking and Culture in Apulia
Apulia, the remote region comprising the heel of the Italian boot, enjoys a traditional cuisine that is the very essence of a healthy Mediterranean diet. Our weeklong stay in a privately owned 16C Palazzo offers a relaxed and informal insight into Apulian cooking, with a particular emphasis on the history, cultivation and flavours of the delicious oils from the ancient olive groves of Apulia.
A visit to a masseria (working farm), swimming at the coast, some gentle strolls through olive groves to give us a real feel for ‘la terra’, plus the glories of Lecce’s Baroque architecture and the whitewashed port of Gallipoli, form the backdrop to a series of hands-on cookery classes and delicious meals.
TRIP ITINERARY
DAY 1 
D included
After meeting at Bari airport in the afternoon, a road transfer brings us to a superbly-restored 16C palazzo, with a garden containing a swimming pool, palm and lemon trees. Aperitivi and dinner, introducing some Apulian specialities, are served by candlelight in the baronial hall.
DAY 2 
B, L, D included 
In Otranto, one of the last towns in Apulia to fall to the Normans in 1070, we explore the Aragonese castle with its massive walls and visit the Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata with its marvellous mosaic floor depicting the tree of life with a mixture of pagan and Christian symbols, and heroes from history and fantasy (including the Queen of Sheba, Alexander the Great and King Arthur). We drive back, stopping in a little sheltered cove to picnic and swim. Dinner at the palazzo is prepared by a local cook with a reputation for delicious and authentic Salentine cooking, and to complement the meal we sample Apulian red wines such as Primitivo (probable precursor of Zinfandel).
DAY 3
B, L, D included
This morning we drive to Lecce and explore the town on foot - between 1660 and 1720 it was extensively rebuilt in the high Baroque style. We admire the Duomo, bell tower, archbishop’s palace, seminary and the façade of Santa Croce and there is time to buy the famed Leccese cotognato (quince paste) before a special lunch in a private 18C Neo-Classical villa. On returning to the palazzo there is time for a swim before we have a hands- on class preparing our dinner - maybe aubergine rissoles and fish baked in a tiella (a traditional Pugliese dish), and one of the sweet almond and citrus concoctions of the south.
DAY 4
B, L, D included
In the ancient, walled port of Gallipoli we visit the fish market before admiring the baroque façade of the cathedral and exploring the atmospheric narrow alleyways. We have lunch in a trattoria by the sea, then head for a nearby beach for a swim once we have digested the excellent pasta with crab. For dinner at the palazzo this evening we prepare a typical southern Italian fish soup.
DAY 5 
B, L, D included
A class on pasta pugliese has us all making orecchiette, the ‘little ears’ which reputedly get larger the further south one travels in Apulia! We travel to the coast to swim and stroll on the castle walls in Castro before lunch in a local restaurant noted for its array of antipasti based on fish and pasta dishes. The afternoon brings a chance to relax in the garden by the pool, or go for a walk in the ancient olive groves outside the village. For dinner we prepare swordfish rolls and fava bean puree with chicory, an Apulian classic.
DAY 6
B, L, D included
Following a leisurely breakfast and a stroll through the lemon trees within the walled garden (and perhaps a swim in the pool), we visit an ancient, very picturesque, local farm. We taste their olive oil and eat their home produce for lunch - salad from the garden, home-reared meat grilled on a wood fire and of course, plenty of local red wine such as DOC Salice Salentino. In nearby Galatina, the centre of the phenomenon of tarantismo, we see the fine early 15C frescoes in the Franciscan church of Sta Caterina d’Alessandria.
DAY 7
B, L, D included
We all give a hand to prepare a picnic, maybe making pizza rustica and orange and fennel salad with pomegranate seeds, before setting off for a local market to buy plenty of late summer fruits such as figs and persimmons. The ancient frescoed rock church nearby is a World Heritage Site, which we visit before picnicking and swimming on the coast. Our farewell dinner is in a restaurant specialising in fish and shellfish, celebrating our week’s immersion in the culinary heritage of this wonderful region of Italy.
DAY 8
B, L included
En route to the airport and late afternoon flights home, we pause to visit the Folk Museum of the Salento, next to the charming Romanesque abbey of Santa Maria di Cerrate, and eat our light lunch in the shade of pine trees.
Price includes:
All accommodation for Days 1 through 8 on a twin shared basis
All meals (with wine at lunches and dinners) as listed in the daily notation
All hands-on and demonstration cooking lessons as described
All wine and olive oil tastings as described
All land transportation as described except during free periods
All entrance and sightseeing fees except during free periods
Gratuities for palazzo and restaurant staff
Visa and Health Requirements
Visitors from the EU and the US currently require a valid passport, but not a visa, for entry to Italy. If you are a national of any other country, please check visa regulations with your nearest Embassy of Italy.
At present there are no specific and compulsory health requirements for entry to Italy. Residents of countries in the EU can only claim free (emergency) medical treatment in Italy by presenting their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which is issued in the UK by the Department of Health. You may also wish to check the advice given to travellers by the FCO.
Insurance
It is essential, and a condition of booking, that you protect yourself with a suitable travel insurance policy as soon as you book a trip. Follow this link for information on a policy available to UK residents.
If you are already insured or a non-UK resident, please inform us of your policy at the time of booking.
Kudu Travel Limited
Teffont Manor
Teffont Ewyas
Salisbury SP3 5RJ
Phone: 01722 716167

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Travel Trust Association
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Guests’ comments on this trip:
‘An excellent short autumn holiday, full of interest and amusement. Each day was beautifully planned, we were very comfortable and well-fed and Frances is a perfect guide.’
‘The holiday was even better than expectation; the palazzo and its gardens were so beautiful and comfortable; the mixture of visits to local places and the opportunity to swin, with plenty of time to relax, was ideal; and all the meals were outstanding.’
‘Professional, relaxed, interesting visits with balance of information and free time. Excellent food. Good company. A holiday with friends.’
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