After our three rural nights at Masseria Messapia, it was time to move on to our next stay – Torre Cintola Greenblu Sea Emotions resort, near Monopoli.

Of course, we stopped en-route at Ostuni and had a few hours exploring the old town, before returning to the car where I promptly entered ‘greenblu’ in Google Maps, picked the first result, and off we went. To the wrong hotel – to Torre Cintola Greenblu resort, further back towards Brindisi again. Not content with parking at the wrong hotel, I then even got the luggage out of the car, marched into reception and attempted to check-in. Complete fail.

Back into the car and off we went for another 40-minute drive back up the coast, finally reaching the Torre Cintola Greenblu Sea Emotions resort right on-time for dinner.

The car park near the entrance to the resort is honestly, a minefield. After being waved in by security, I circled the main ‘parking area’ several times, before finally finding a space. This decision would come back to haunt me later on at about 10pm.

Check-in was quick, if not particularly full of friendliness, and we were given instructions to walk to our room and an offer of a hand with our luggage, which never arrived after sufficiently long that we just awkwardly walked our luggage ourselves, not really knowing where to go.

We ‘upgraded’ to the premium package, and also full board – the premium package coming with a range of benefits including a discount on bills incurred on-site, room welcome gift, dinner (if your board rate entitles you as such) and lunch at the dedicated restaurant and beachfront restaurant respectively, a welcome drink, and several other benefits.

The welcome drink in particular, is actually a coupon for use for ‘soft drinks’ – although I didn’t encounter any issues asking for a glass of wine – at the lobby bar.

Our room, 612, was in one of the mushroom-like pods that contain, surprisingly, four guest rooms in each. Effectively, there’s a guest door every 90 degrees of the mushroom, none of which on our block had any particularly compelling views although ours was surely among the worst, facing directly the door of our neighbours’ opposite.

Notwithstanding the lack of views, our room was very pleasant, with good air conditioning, a large bed tucked into the corner of the room, a work desk, minifridge, and a well-appointed bathroom.

Unfortunately this is one of these properties where a valid hotel card needs to be left in the power slot at all times to keep the electricity going, so as I learned to my detriment, wine could not be reliably kept as chilled as one might like in the fridge.

Dinner for half- or full-board guests is served in the main ‘restaurant’ back up near reception. For anyone staying here, as I realised, the table you receive is the table you’re assigned to for throughout your stay; so you’d want to like its position. Ours thankfully was relatively near the front of the building.

Secondly, a bottle of wine is left on the table at lunch and dinner (you do not need to remove the cork, it’s already gone as I discovered, when I nearly embarassed myself by asking for help removing the cork). I have to say, I did not enjoy the wine and it was a real shame but it had a very punchy, lavender after-taste. It was so overpowering, I now have a Google history comprised of several variants of ‘how to tell if wine has been left open too long’ or ‘how to tell if wine has gone off’.

At breakfast, there seemed to be an option to sit outdoors, which we availed of twice, and was lovely, except for the occasional waft of cigarette smoke and the one waiter who would ask us each morning were we part of the premium package, acknowledge that we were, and then head off without any further offer – while simultaneously delivering freshly barista-made drinks to other guests’. Great, thanks for the amazing hospitality.

The leisure facilities however are pretty top-notch; they’ve two lovely, huge pools – one saltwater, and one freshwater – along with an entire beachfront. At night, it all looks quite spectacular.

That first evening, we repaired to the stage where some family-friendly concert was taking place in the amphitheatre. Whatever about the resorts’ suitability for two child-free adults, it is definitely a popular – and very appropriate – place for famillies.

Unfortunately, after a full day of driving, dinner, some family-friendly entertainment and showers, it was almost time for bed when I discovered I had a WhatsApp from reception asking me to move the car.

After a brief exchange, I begrudgingly went out and agreed to move the car. I’ve got to be honest, I had very mixed feelings about this not alone because the space hadn’t been cornered or roped off earlier in the day, or that it was now after 10pm and pretty late for them to realise that I was apparently blocking a staircase behind a hedge, in front of where I parked. But I just find it very questionable to ask a guest to move their car at that stage – I had, thankfully, only had a few glasses of wine with dinner, but any more and I really wouldn’t have felt comfortable moving the car in what was a pretty busy car park.

Upon my return to reception, something odd happened – the entire staff I’d berated on my way out and asked for a managers e-mail all disappeared, and the one ‘new’ member of staff said their shift had ‘just finished’. Come on! I asked again for a managers contact to express my concern about the above, but ultimately it couldn’t be given out due to ‘privacy’.

Next morning, we ran into a member of the concierge who asked were we having a wonderful stay and got a far more honest answer than I think she was probably counting on.

Notwithstanding that, we made the most of our days by the beach – making full use of the ‘premium’ entitlement to beachfront loungers. I have to say, the premium upgrade probably was worth the money; we did get our room serviced twice a day, they did seem to replenish the bottled water whenever they found it empty, and the beachfront chair guarantee came to good use.

The beach itself is less beach and more rocky outcrop; entering via ladder is a must, and you’d want to be relatively confident in your ability to swim quickly away from the rocks, although there is also a nearby floating pontoon.

By mid-morning, we received a message from reception apologising for the car park movement the night before, with an offer of complimentary access to a ‘premium’ lido, Lido Sabbiadoro, a few kilometres away.

I have to say, the concierge team, a lady and a gent at different times, including the one above, did seem to be trying hard to keep the stay a positive experience – such as the complimentary lido above, and trying their best to facilitate a late check-out for free (ultimately, we paid the 80 Euro late check-out charge as we wanted to keep the room until late afternoon).

Separately, we dined at the beachfront restaurant, Dunetta, one afternoon for lunch – and I must say, it was really good. Most enjoyable, with only our drinks to be paid for separately, and what a relief not to have to endure another bottle of Solema. Similarly, the rooftop restaurant was very enjoyable too, albeit far more ‘fine dining’ territory.

Overall, we came away from our stay at Torre Cintola feeling that, the facilities are top-notch and very enjoyable, much of the food – including the buffet options and themed evenings – were very pleasant; some of the staff certainly left a bit to be desired in terms of hospitality, as did the bland canteen setting for mealtimes, as did our room view of someone else’s door and their clothes horse full of wet towels and swimsuits. Ultimately, it also appeals to a different crowd; this felt very family-first.

We had a relaxing several days at Torre Cintola, and I’m glad we booked it, but truthfully, we’d be unlikely to return as much out of preference for seeing new places than anything to do with the resort specifically – although it would be nice to hear they’d address some of the issues we encountered.