Italy (Puglia): Gallipoli

 

About 10 km to the south is the old island town of Gallipoli.  From Santa Maria al Bagno we could see the town lights and also the very prominent lighthouse (one of the tallest on the Mediterranean).  Early in the morning we drove down to park near the port on the mainland and did the short walk to the island.  Gallipoli is such a cool little place!  The wind on the shore was pretty severe but already there were small groups of people trying to make the best of the nice beach.  Since we were there mostly to sight-see we took to wandering the very quiet neighborhood streets.  We saw people doing their laundry, making deliveries with nimble small trucks, and running quick errands.  Once lunchtime rolled around the narrow streets became incredibly busy with shoppers and tour groups.

Hans picked out the best sandwich shop I've been to in a long time.  Baguetteria De Pace is labeled "fast food" on Google Maps.  Y'ALL.  The truffle salami sandwich I had was so soooo delightful.  For good measure I had it with a glass of one of Puglia's well-known wine varieties: Negroamaro.

That was kind of our day.  We returned back to the home-base for one last evening and I took advantage of the lovely weather by going down to the town beach.  Hans wanted to read back at the hotel so I took a solo dip with all of the locals.  The water was more active than on the day we arrived but even with the waves you could see all of the way down to the fine sandy bottom.  I could even swim with my eyes open underwater and see pretty far.  Like the beach club we went to yesterday it was a peaceful experience.

For dinner we went to a kind of touristy/trendy cocktail and snacks place so that we could enjoy the sunset during aperitivo hour.  Honestly the food was a bit "meh" but the drinks were decent.  I got to practice more of my Italian with the patient wait staff.  Tomorrow we're heading north to our next hotel.

 

 The Cathedral of Saint Agatha was crammed within the tight little streets
so it was difficult to photograph from the outside.

 As I was trying to photograph the reliquary I heard a voice behind me say "attention!" and it turned out to be a Dutch tour guide reaching through the iron gate bars to flip on a light switch so that his group could view the room.  I was temporarily trapped in a corner while the rest of the group scuttled forward to see and/or take pictures of the bones and other relics.

There was a very small museum off of the main shopping street and underground.  Here you can see a very old olive oil mill and listen to a quick explanation on how "green gold" was produced.  Olive oil used to be used as lamp fuel.  We felt bad for the donkeys that used to live underground with the workers and turn the millstones.  The cool underground space acted as a giant condenser and the air was positively soupy.

How could you not love just wandering streets like these?

16th century Greek Fountain (for a long time people thought it was from the 3rd century B.C.)

Drinks and dinner by the sea

 

 

Italy (Puglia): Beach Life and Otranto

 

Our hotel had a very convenient agreement with one of the nearby beach clubs.  We took advantage of the complimentary shuttle to Caipiriña Beach and booked an umbrella and two sunbeds.  The water was gorgeously blue and a wave break kept the Ionian Sea calm for swimmers.  For some reason I can't find any of the photos that I took with my phone except for the one that I posted in Instagram previously.  It doesn't matter much since I was trying to respect other beach-goers' privacy anyway.  I mostly wanted to document how dang beautiful it was!

I think one of my favorite things was how chill all of the other patrons were.  Everyone quietly enjoyed their time and kept to themselves.  Lots of good reading time if you're not in the water.

When we were ready to return to the hotel I cringed because my Italian language teacher would have been disappointed: I blanked on the word for "let's go" as the driver and I struggled to communicate.  I'll never forget "andiamo" ever again!

 

 So relaxing!

Once again we found ourselves to be a little tired and not really interested in lunch so we hopped into the rental car (now that I knew how to properly use the gear box) and we drove to the seaside town of Otranto.

The city was decorated with elaborate white luminaria structures for the weekend's Feast of the Madonna dell'Altomare Church.  We walked in front of the church and descended the cliff-side stairs right before the marching band (who's members we'd accidentally followed through the streets as we parked) began to play and a procession with the Madonna statue was brought down to a stage where many townspeople had assembled.  By the time we reached the other side of the town center beach we had a view of both those who were enjoying the blue waters and also the religious event going on a few dozen meters further.

The view towards the old fortified town

 

In the below picture you can see the zoom in on what was going on below the church

The mosaics in the Otranto Cathedral are from the 12th century

 

 

 

 

After returning back to Santa Maria al Bagno neither of us wanted the fuss of trying to get a restaurant table for dinner so instead we went to one of the many late-night food stands near our hotel.  We each got a sandwich with all of the fixings.  Hans' was a bunch of German wursts smooshed into a burger bun and mine was a 90% buffalo 10% pork "burger" patty inside a bun with the usual fixings like tomato, lettuce, mayo, etc but ALSO fries.  Hah.  Honestly they were pretty decent but we definitely did not want to eat like that too much on this trip!

Italy (Puglia): A Mellow Day in Town

This week we're in Italy, specifically the region of Puglia, for a very belated birthday trip and we'll be here for just under a week.  Puglia doesn't have especially large cities or overly dramatic landscapes but it has an abundance of some of the country's best beaches, a large portion Italy's total olive oil production, really special wines, and some of the warmest people we've encountered overseas.

Our trip began over 24 hours ago.  We left DC on Thursday night on a bargain fare from Icelandair.  The hops were IAD-RKV, RKV-FCO, FCO-BDS (Ita Airways), then a slightly harrowing 1-hour drive (yup, we rented a car) after dark to the small seaside village Santa Maria al Bagno.  Below you can see why I was attracted to this lesser-visited part of an already lesser-visited region:

 

 

CDS Grand Hotel Riviera, our home base for the next few days

Enjoying a stroll to shake off the jet lag

Today we had a really nice breakfast at the hotel and later went for a walk around town.  Due to the very long day of travel we had yesterday I hadn't made any plans except to request a last-minute dinner reservation at a recommended seafood and pizza place in town.  Santa Maria al Bagno is pretty small and even though our hotel isn't in the core center we're still just a 10 minute walk away from it and the very beautiful small bay with crystal clear water and fine sand.  

Lunch was a quick affair of pizzetta from a grocery store.  I went up to the rooftop pool for a few hours while Hans rested.  As the sun began to set we walked around the town towards where we'd be eating dinner and we took photos of the gorgeous sky.

Our meal at Ristorante Pizzeria Filieri di Rico e Paolo was very cozy.  We were seated at a table that overlooked the shore (though it was quickly getting dark) and proceeded to have excellent seafood.  Our journey into Puglian wine also began, as our server recommended a bottle made from verdeca grapes (lightly apple/pear and nicely semi-dry).

By the time we walked back to the hotel we were pretty tired but ready for a new day tomorrow.

 

 

 Sunset on the Ionian Sea

We could see a little bit of land on the other side of the Gulf of Taranto

Four 16th-century watch towers are incorporated into a complex of restaurants

Evening in Santa Maria al Bagno