Italy – Castellano Grotte & Polignano A Mare

Day 69 Tuesday 23rd October 2023 - Castellano Grotte & Polignano A Mare

Day trip #4 from Monopoli through the Itria Valley again to Castellano Grotte, then back to the coast to Polignano a Mare.

Driving the Itria Valley was beautiful again, and seeing the old olive trees with large gnarled wide trunks is a delight. After hinting that we were getting a little centro storioed out, we headed back underground today to visit the Castellano Caves.

Located about 20 minutes drive from Monopoli we set out early to visit the actual town of Castellano Grotte before our booked tour at 10:45. We had trouble finding the centre of town, but found a coffee shop easily enough. After coffee a quick stroll through the centre was uninspiring so back to the car and onto the caves.

We had booked tickets online for the English option, so we just had to turn up at the door for the tour. There were about 40 people on our tour with two guides, one front and one at the rear. The descent into the first chamber was quite spectacular, the cavern was huge and it was open to the sky with a hole in the centre where there was a collapse of the roof. The cavern was 100 metres long, 50 metres wide and 60 metres high. (NB some of the images I downloaded from the web as we were not allowed to take pictures in the caves, apart from the first cavern). The website had informed us of this, along with no smoking allowed or touching of the formations, suggesting it is not suitable for pregnant women or people over 70, but it is possible to bring along small pets if carried.

The caves weren't the best we have been in, but they contained numerous types of formations and they were one of the longest ones we have walked into, this one was 1.5 kilometres in (3 km return) and 72 metres below ground at its deepest. More info here : https://www.grottedicastellana.it/en/

The most amazing part was when we finished the tour and was back in the cavern we first entered (via steps), we were able to get an elevator back up to the surface!

Finished at 12:45 and headed off for Polignano a Mare, a 20 minute drive away, back through the Itria Valley. Parked well out of the main centre and walked in, spent 2 hours here wandering around. This is cliff top town, with buildings in the Centro hanging over the sea with quite a large drop down...about 30 -40 metres. The Centro is quite small, neatly maintained and very pleasant.

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