Taranto, Italy

We arrived in Taranto by train from Lecce. The journey involved changing trains at Brindisi, with about 20 minutes to spare. We arrived in Taranto at about midday, and after a short walk from the train station arrived at our hotel. Checked-in and freshened up we headed out to explore the town.

Stand alone blog posts for Taranto, Italy:
Cattedrale di San Cataldo/duomo di San Cataldo, Taranto
Instagram Taranto, Italy

Video of Taranto, Italy – Part One

Click here to view the embedded video.

Staying in Taranto, Italy:
We spent two nights at the Hotel L’Arcangelo – http://www.hotelarcangelotaranto.com (Piazza Fontana 33 Taranto, 74123 Italy +390994715940).
The hotel was only a few minutes walk from the railway station, so no need for a taxi. It was a well appointed hotel, and our room was large with dual aspect windows leading out on to small balconies. One balcony overlooking the bridge and the other overlooking the clock tower. There was a mini bar stocked with a few drinks, but no glasses in the room, which was odd. The bathroom was a good size, with constant hot water and pretty good water pressure, and we were given fresh clean towels each day.
The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. The hotel was in a great location. Within 60 seconds walk there were a number of nice restaurants, and it was only 10 minutes walk to the main sites in the old town. The new town and main commercial centre was about a 15 minute slow stroll away. The only negative point about Hotel L’Arcangelo was the breakfast. There were too many processed foods in packages; crisp bread biscuits etc., juice drink instead of fresh juice, and the cakes, bread, and rolls were stale, in fact the little rolls were rock hard, inedible. It wouldn’t take much to make the breakfast really good. We enjoyed our short stay at this hotel.
7/10

Eating in Taranto:
Santa Caterina al Borgo Pizzeria
Our first meal in Taranto, and our first pizza in Italy. It was a good size pizza and at a decent price of 6€. Enough for the both of us to share. The mixed salad was fine, if nothing special.
6/10

Ristorante Il Porto
I had a risotto with prawns and pancetta, Laura had Gnocchi with prawns. Both meals were O.K. but neither contained many prawns, and that made them very expensive dishes. Plus the bread basket contained bread that was very burnt on the crust. Service was also very poor. At 1/2 the price the meal cost, it would still have been too expensive.
3/10
Pescheria F.lli Murianni
A very good restaurant that was just across the road from our hotel. We shared pappardelle with giant king prawns, of which there was a generous amount, and a large mixed salad. On entering the restaurant we were given a complimentary starter of risotto, which was a nice touch.
7/10
Trattoria ‘Ugo Bari”
to visit the Castel San Anggelo, but when we walked in they told us it would be 30 minutes until the next tour. Being neither keen on waiting, or guided tours, we gave it a miss. The old town had a lot of charm, and as much of it has not been restored a great deal, it had a feel of real life about it and not some over polished Disneyland feel you find in some towns that have had the life and soul ‘restored’ out of them. Taranto is well worth visiting for a day or two.

Video of Taranto, Italy – Part Two

Click here to view the embedded video.

Moving on:
Our next destination was Salerno, because we wanted to catch a ferry to Sicily, and luck would have it that there was a direct train from Taranto to Salerno.