An Eater's Guide to Puglia
Plus, how do travel writers afford to travel?? 👀
Hello hello,
How is everyone? It’s another gorgeous day here in Chicago and I’m heading outside as soon as I hit ‘send.’
So let’s get to it––how do travel writers afford all that travel??
The life of a travel writer looks glamorous. Endless vacations, elaborate dinners, beautiful accommodations, once in a lifetime experiences done in the name of research. But ask any travel writer or influencer about their job, and they’ll rush to tell you it’s not that easy. It requires long hours, constantly pitching yourself and your ideas, being tech and photo savvy, and is often paid in experiences, which definitely don’t pay rent or student loan debt.
Then there are the things they won’t tell you. Like how sometimes marketing companies pay for them to go on trips, how they don’t always eat the food they post photos of on Instagram, that they don’t visit every place they write about, that click rates determine which articles get posted, that almost no one’s Instagram following is as it appears, and more.
Here’s what we in the industry know, and what you should think about the next time you’re scrolling through articles or your Insta feed.
This is an excerpt from a much longer article I wrote for Curiosity Magazine, which included interviews with about a dozen other writers. If you’re interested in this topic, give it a read!
First things first: Journalists vs. Bloggers vs. Influencers
Travel Journalists
Traditionally, travel journalists/travel writers are paid to write for newspapers, magazines, or online sites. They rely on interviews, research, and first-person experiences to create a factual, hopefully entertaining article. They are beholden to deadlines, editor questions and fixes, and ethics clauses. They are usually trained in journalism or creative writing and have strong interview and writing skills.
A favorite travel/wine piece I wrote for Wine Enthusiast ⬆
Travel journalism often goes beyond reviews or the ‘go here, do this’ type of article, which is something many travel writers feel their audiences don’t understand. The best travel or food writing is often longform essays, historical accounts told through food, or in-depth interviews.
Importantly, travel writers are never paid to travel. They are paid for the articles they write, by the publications they write for. Sometimes they receive free trips, but they are never paid by PR companies or hotels or tourism boards.
Travel Bloggers
Bloggers also write, though they are their own editors and don’t have to adhere to standards of traditional publications. They rely on their personality or niche to draw people in. They usually include more photos in their posts, and their social presence is almost just as important as the actual blog. Bloggers also run their own websites, take photos, need to understand SEO, etc. It’s a more tech-savvy job than travel journalism. Bloggers are sometimes paid to travel.
Travel Influencers
Those who are pure influencers, who do not have any website or job outside of their social media feeds, rely even more on personality. At least, the good ones do. Influencers post photos and captions that draw people in and rely on their style/looks/photography skills/personality shining through to get people to continue to care about their lives and follow them day in and day out. They often get paid to travel by hotels, tour companies, restaurants, etc.
We’re going to focus on travel journalists who write for magazines and are paid through their bylines. More on the others in this piece.
What Travel Journalists Want You to Know
That it’s a job and has its downsides
Freelance journalists, like myself, ‘pitch’ stories to magazine editors, meaning they send them an idea and hope that idea is accepted. For most freelancers, stories are not assigned, meaning writers are constantly trying to sell ideas to editors, which can feel like a full-time job in itself. Even if an idea is fantastic, it might not get accepted because of budgets, because it doesn’t fit the magazine’s theme for that month, because something similar is in the pipeline, because another publication has published a story in the same vein recently, because an editor is simply too busy to answer every email, and any number of reasons. Often freelancers pitch one story multiple times before it gets accepted. It’s exhausting, though thrilling when you do get a “yes.”
That They Don’t Make Much Money
Journalism is not a get-rich industry, even when you’re covering something fun or glamorous like travel.
Writers get paid for the stories they write about a trip or an experience, with rates ranging from $25-$1000 or so, depending on the publication. National magazines like Food & Wine, AFAR, Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, and others pay around $300-$500 for online stories, slightly more for print. Some, like the New York Times and other major publications, pay $1 per word, and the typical story is around 500-800 words. Small publications pay around $150 per story. Then there are publications with a huge reach that barely pay at all, which is appalling. Places like Forbes and the Huffington Post have contributor networks, paying based on page views or paltry fees like $250 for five stories per month. If you’re in the upper echelon of writers, making $700 on average per story, you’re doing pretty well and it might sound like a lot to readers. You get to travel somewhere amazing, write about it, and get paid.
But let’s break that down. How many stories would you need to write per month? The average American salary is around $56,000 (which, by the way, is not enough to live in most major cities). That breaks down to about seven stories per month. Now, if you could only focus on writing, that would be possible. But many travel writers are freelance, so they don’t have a guaranteed number of stories per month. They must pitch ideas, research any stories that are accepted, take the trips, interview sources, then write the article. It’s almost impossible to write seven major stories per month once you factor all that in, and even if it was, the hourly rate would be incredibly low. Plus, getting seven stories accepted per month at major, higher-paying publications is very, very difficult, if not impossible. Even staff writers don’t do it.
One way writers subsidize travel is by taking press trips (see below). But, a lot of publications won’t accept coverage from press trips, under the idea that they result in biased coverage. This makes sense, but if you’re not allowed to accept compensated or free travel, and the outlet only pays $150 an article, that trip is going to cost you far more money than you’re going to make covering it.
Every single travel writer I know has another form of income, whether it’s copywriting for businesses, brand partnerships on social media, renting their homes on Airbnb while they travel, teaching, driving for Uber or Lyft, bartending, or even holding full-time jobs in unrelated industries.
I compensate travel writing with non-travel journalism (also low paid); copywriting for food companies, law offices and international development organizations; and working at a wine shop. I used to rent my apartment on Airbnb, which was by far the most lucrative side hustle I’ve ever had. Read about the good here, and the bad here.
If Travel Writing Doesn’t Pay Well, How Does Anyone Do It?
Press Trips
Press trips, or media trips, are trips hosted by a tourism board, a hotel, or a travel company, usually with the help of a PR agency. The company will pay for flights, accommodation, activities, and meals for a group of writers or influencers, showing them the best of their destination in hopes of positive articles/lots of social media coverage. Writers are not paid to attend trips, but everything on the trip is covered. Bloggers and influencers are sometimes paid a day rate.
The Maldives trip was a press trip example. I used to go on tons of press trips, but go on far fewer now partly because covid slowed them down, and partly because I prefer to travel with Nathan and do my own thing. Press trips are usually packed with activity and you can’t set your own schedule, so while they can be great, it’s not the same as traveling and choosing where you want to eat, discovering things on your own, spending a day wandering, etc. I still do them if they’re somewhere I could never afford, if they give access to a really unique story or interview, or if it seems like a good group. Because I work solo from home, press trips are like networking events where I get to meet other travel writers and talk shop!
How Does This All Affect Coverage?
As travel writer Chelsea Davis said: “If you can afford the kinds of trips we can go on and can have these types of experiences, you’re not going to go home and write about it. You’re going to jump on your private plane and go somewhere new. If you’re paying for this on your own dime, writing is not what you do. There are publications that are ethics first, but lots of places say that and don’t follow through, because it’s not sustainable. It would be hard to find people who could afford to write about this stuff otherwise.”
For the most part, writers don’t write negative things about a place they’ve visited on a press trip. But, they don’t always write positive things, either. I tend to just not cover something if I didn’t enjoy the trip, but rarely go out of the way to say something negative. If I do write something positive, it’s because I actually enjoyed the experience.
In Summary
Press trips, other writing jobs, side gigs, Airbnb, family money, partners with steady jobs, and paid newsletters are some of the various ways travel writers make it work.
Be a Better Traveler (And Eater) In Puglia
And now… Puglia travel tips! Puglia is one of my favorite regions in Italy. We were just back for a wedding and everything was as delicious and beautiful as I remembered, as you can see in this reel ⬇.
Bari is a good base to get around the rest of the region, and you’ll want to rent a car. Rentals in Italy are easy and much cheaper than in the U.S., especially if you can drive manual.
Of course I think you should go for months, but realize that’s not realistic. If you have a week or so, visit Bari and Matera, with maybe a day in Polignano a Mare (beaches) or Altemura (food). Or, you could spend a week in the southern part of Puglia––Salento––in Lecce, Ostuni, and Gallipoli. Wherever you go, you’ll want to visit again and again. Here are my favorite spots to eat and a few other tips. I’ll update this every time I go back to Puglia, as I do with other destination tip sections of this newsletter. Remember that you always have access to the full archive!
Bari
Bari is the capital of Puglia and sits on the Adriatic Sea. You cannot leave without multiple stops at the fish market, where you’ll find raw octopus, mussels, sea urchin, and more. Don’t know how to eat it? No problem. The fishermen are happy to help. Grab a plate of seafood and a couple of beers from the adjoining stand, and dine with views of colorful fishing boats
Bari is famous for its focaccia, perhaps nowhere more so than Panificio Fiore Bari in the old part of the city. Get the focaccia Barese, the style topped with ripe tomato, olive oil, and sometimes olives.
Another famous spot is Panificio Santa Rita. You’ll know it from the ever-present line out the door. Out of the old city, one of my favorites is La Pupetta, especially for white focaccia.
There are dozens (maybe hundreds?) of bars (for coffee) in Bari, but Meridional Caffe stands out for its espresso freddo.
Panzerotti are essentially little deep fried calzones, and Pizzeria di Cosimo (the location in the old city) makes my favorite. They also have great pizza and it’s fun to sit outside on a summer night. The restaurant draws tourists, but the square is mostly local and buzzes with children running around and their chattering parents.
For seafood, Biancofiore is lovely, as is Al Pescatore (the spaghetti alle vongole here is my favorite). On the fancier side, try Ai 2 Ghiottoni, where the seafood is wonderful, but I get especially giddy about the alcohol drenched strawberry liqueur and cookie tray at the end of the meal.
For all things Pugliese with a modern spin, go to Terranima.
You’ve likely read stories about Bari’s pasta grannies, who make and dry orecchiette on tables in Bari Vecchia and were the subjects of a NYT piece titled ‘Call It a Crime of Pasta.’ If you’re staying in an Airbnb or anywhere with a kitchen, buy bags and cook it yourself. You’ll also see orecchiette, usually served with cime di rape , on almost every menu. For other types of fresh pasta, I love Pastificio Ancora Di Marco, Ancora & Fiore, and La Bottega del Tortellino.
Taralli (ring-shaped dense crackers made with olive oil, flour, salt, and white wine) are one of my favorite snacks in the world, and though you can find them around Italy, they’re best in Puglia, where they’re from. Fennel is the most common, but there’s also onion, spicy pepper, and more.
Most people visit Bari in the summer to take advantage of the large, free beach (very cutely called Pane e Pomodoro). If you’re walking back to town from the beach, stop at Pescobar for a takeaway fish sandwich you can eat on a bench by the water.
In the old city, Voglia..Pane e Vino is a nice bar with lots of local wine and cheese platters. The staff are fabulous and can tell you all about the wines (which are also incredibly cheap). Ciclatera Under the Sea is also nice for a spritz with a view.
There’s gelato and granita galore, and I encourage you to try it all. That said, Gelateria Gentile is especially good for both.
Bars: Luau Tiki Bar is fun, as are Speakeasy Bari, Piccolo Bar, Katzuti Garage Bar, and Faros Beer Bar. Enoteca Bar a Vin–Mostofiore, Enoteca del Centro, and Cucumazzo for wine.
Non-food things: The Museo Teatro Margherita features cool exhibits, like a Banksy retrospective and the World Photography Awards. And Il Ficodindia is the place to go for ceramics.
Polignano a Mare
Polignano a Mare can be crowded with tourists and is quite small, but if you have the time it’s nice for a day trip. The beach is gorgeous, as are the viewpoints around town. Give into tourism and have a glass of prosecco here, where you can take it all in. Pescaria is a lively fish sandwich shop that seems to embody everything Polignano a Mare is: beachy chic. After a day at the beach, cool down with granita from Il Super Mago del Gelo.
Trani
This small town is an easy day trip from Bari. We weren’t there long, but did stop for fish sandwiches at Panini Art. I was skeptical of fish with fresh mozzarella before this trip, but the many fish sandwich spots in Puglia proved me wrong.
Gargano National Park/Peschici
Visit Gargano National Park to hike through forests or see the Tremiti Islands. On the way from Bari, stop in Vieste. The coastal town doesn’t have much to do, but it’s beautiful and nice to walk around. Same goes for Peschici, though here you should dine at the cliff-side Costamarina Restaurant and Wine Bar. The squid ink pasta at Costamarina was one of the best things I’ve had in all of Italy. The sunset views are pretty spectacular too.
Monopoli
A very cute, seaside town. Tiny, but good for a road trip stop. Eat at Carlo Quinto.
Altamura
You go to Altamura for the bread and the cheese. Pane di Altamura is a protected Italian bread that has to be made with durum wheat flour, a starter with lactic acid, salt, and water. The dough must be kneaded for 20 minutes, then go through set resting phases before baking. It is most famously made at Forno Antico Santa Chiara, which has been around since 1423 (!!!).
Sit outside and order a platter of cheese and salumi, as well as anything with stracciatella. Then go to Caseificio Dicecca, the cheese shop owned by the “Burrata Brothers,” who make what many say is Italy’s best mozzarella. It might seem crazy to visit a town solely for bread and cheese, but once you taste it you’ll understand.
Salento
Salento is a sub-region of Puglia, and happens to be where my friend Tess’s husband Antonio grew up. We were lucky enough to stay with them last summer in Torre Suda and have Antonio show us some of his favorite spots: Sunset Cafe for aperitivo overlooking the sea and La Braceria Beach for choose-your-own grilled meats and vegetables (this place is really fun). For breakfast, try Salentino snacks like pasticciotto, a pastry filled with cream, and rustico, a puff pastry filled with a sort of bechamel and tomato sauce.
Salento’s beaches put the rest of the world to shame. Seriously. Visit Grotto della Poesia and Ponte Ciolo to see what I mean.
Lecce
You’re going to want to spend at least a day in Lecce marveling at the pretty yellow stone and ancient ruins. Get sandwiches at Come Vuoi and coffee at Caffè Alvino. Wine and small plates at Mamma Elvira Enoteca (the main restaurant is good too), and dinner at La Torre di Merlino. Stop in Society Limonata for dreamy bedding and table linens that are pricey but fun to look at.
Otranto
I’ve only been here once, for lunch, but if you’re swinging through, Sofish–Pane e Pesci has great fish sandwiches and a fun wine list.
Alberobello
I am one of the few people who doesn’t get the hype of the trulli and feels the downtown is too Disneyfied. That said, La Cantina is a fabulous lunch spot.
Ostuni
I adore Ostuni. The whitewashed city has been inhabited since the Stone Age, and you could spend days wandering the many crooked side streets.
My favorite restaurant here by far is Osteria del Tempo Perso. It’s cozy, the wine is cheap, the servers are friendly and quick with suggestions, and the meatballs are the best I’ve ever had. I’m sure the menu is seasonal, but if they have a pasta with a sweet yellow tomato sauce, pancetta, and mozzarella, get that.
Outside of town, Masseria Moroseta is a beautiful estate with nightly group dinners. Saveur profiled the chef here.
Matera
Matera isn’t technically in Puglia, I don’t think, but it’s close enough I’m adding it to this list. I have to admit I did not have any memorable meals in Matera (I’m sure there are wonderful places and I can’t wait to try them next time), but you have to go regardless.
It’s been inhabited since the Paleolithic period, and the original cave dwellings are still in tact. In 251 B.C, the “newer” parts of the city were built around them, and more modern additions have been added ever since. It’s a truly unique and beautiful place and I cannot recommend it enough. You’ve seen it in James Bond.
Where to Stay
In Bari, Airbnb is the most economical long-term rental option. An apartment for nine weeks was about $800. Most other towns we visited as day trips, or stayed with friends. For shorter trips, there are plenty of hotel options in Bari and Lecce, and masserias (sort of high-end farmhouses on estates, usually including meals), are popular in the region and really lovely.
For more about this trip, see my ‘Puglia’ highlights on Instagram (there’s a regular “Puglia” and a “Puglia II”. And for more expert recommendations than mine, see Elizabeth Minchilli’s Puglia archives.
Wine of the Week
This Insta post has lots of info about Puglia wine ⬆️.
Plenty of wine comes from Puglia and you can try it all at wine bars and wine shops, but visiting wineries can be more difficult than in Tuscany or other regions more set up for tourism. That said, we did have a lovely experience at Plantamura and Fatalone. Read more about it here.
Five Things I’m Packing This Summer
Rohto Skin Aqua sunscreen. Thank you to my friend and personal skincare genius Brianna for recommending this incredible, light gel sunscreen that I wear every day in Chicago and do not travel without.
Quince linen shirt. This is cute with a silk skirt, with baggy jeans, with colorful shorts… It’s a perfect summer staple.
Superga shoes in classic white. My go-tos for walking around cities.
Madewell Kiara mule. I’ve probably mentioned these before. They are the most comfortable heels I have ever worn. I wore them all through Italy (see them in the Ostuni picture), walking for hours a day on cobblestones and they never hurt. They can be dressy (I wore them to a wedding) or worn with jeans. The only downside is if you wear them a ton like I do, you will need to purchase new ones each year. I’m on my third pair.
Circe. Packing this for Greece this weekend. Her other book, Song of Achilles, is one of my all-time favorite novels.
Links
“Where the Crawdads Sing” author wanted for questioning in murder - a wild story
Olivia Rodrigo + Lily Allen - Supreme Court judges
The Snacks of Political Protest
How OXO Conquered the American Kitchen
Abortion pill shirts by my friend Leigh
Next time: Chicago, Chicago, Chicago!
If you liked the newsletter today, please pass it to someone you know who’d enjoy it, and tap the heart icon above, which helps me reach more readers. I’m off to Greece this weekend! Back in your inbox in two weeks.
–Rebecca 💛
So well said about travel writers and bloggers . As someone who is both it’s becoming a bit difficult right now in India especially post the pandemic . Most magazines have shut down and no one wants in-depth travel stories . I have been blogging for over 15 years now and thankfully that’s my space . New to substack and I am learning more everyday
I have a unique(maybe not all that unique) way to afford my travels that I write about. Of course it limits some other aspects of the travel experience, and it is unlikely it will ever take me to Puglia, or anywhere outside of the United States. But we have to get creative, right? I drive a truck and write about the places I happen into.