Martina Franca

Sun-Ling and I have a travel M.O.; one aspect is that we rarely make hotel reservations, preferring to check out the room and negotiate a rate in person. As Sun-Ling puts it, "We don't book, we look." However, with the busy Easter holiday approaching we decided to book three nights in advance in Martina Franca. These days, online booking and rating sites like TripAdvisor.com and Booking.com make it easy to reserve a room with a few clicks; but you still never know exactly what you'll get.

We hit the jackpot in Martina Franca with a good location and fantastic hosts at CiaoBello B&B, Via Francesco Paolotti, 31, 74015 Martina Franca TA. In addition we found Martina itself to be more than just a good transport hub; a lovely town with sites, eats, and vibe to our liking.

We set out on the FSE, a regional line, train from Lecce to Martina Franca.


Even though the sun did NOT come out for two days, and it was cool and breezy at 440 meters, we found the Old Town of MF a pleasant place to wander.




Martina's Easter Witch. Stay tuned.




Former Hospital.


Back streets inside the Old Town.


A couple of towers remain from the old City Wall.




Foodys, our fav eating spot in town and just 100 meters from CiaoBello. We could not get enough panzerotti, more or less a deep-fried calzone stuff with mozzarella and tomato.




Since our B&B was only a few hundred meters from city center, we went strolling with the locals every night.


Thursday before Easter there was a small procession for the XIV Stations of the Cross.




And on Good Friday evening there was a very solemn procession. Seems that the whole town was either in the procession or lining the streets. This year marked the 300 anniversary of Martina Franca's Good Friday procession.