1 April 2024 – Into the Heel
Miles driven today = 94
Total Miles to date = 3,205
This morning we headed into Puglia, the region which consists of the heel of Italy and the Eastern coastline which runs up its achilles tendon. We left Matera in low cloud and poor visibility and it didn’t really clear until we got down to nearer Sea level as we by-passed Taranto. From there we had a choice. We could head directly for the coast and follow the SP roads, but we know from previous experience that these can get us into some narrow scrapes, so we chose the safer option and took the autostrada to Francavilla Fontana and then a succession of inland roads of varying surface quality via Manduria.
The only thing of note during the journey was a long and rather forbidding wall which looked as though it might form the perimeter of some sort of military base but it turns out it actually conceals the test track which Porsche use to run their vehicles through their paces.
Our destination was the coastal resort of Sant’ Isodoro and as we approached the place we were a little alarmed to find that a lot of other people were looking to spend their Bank Holiday Mondays there too. Thankfully the car park we were aiming for was relatively empty with most people seemingly heading for a restaurant a short distance away.
We parked the van with our nose facing into the strong wind, which was gusting to 40+ mph, and had some lunch before heading out for a stroll along the beach.
There was a good mixture of sandy stretches and also rocky areas. We could imagine that this area would be a fabulous place to relax in the water in less windy conditions. Some of the locals had brought picnics with them and were hunkered down in any available shelter in order to avoid being sandblasted.
I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting the Med in the Spring before and I’m loving how colourful everything is before the heat of the Summer months turns everything brown.
The scurge of litter is still here but it’s nothing like as bad as we experienced on Sicily and in other parts of Italy. Most people here do seem to make an effort to take their rubbish away with them.
We retraced our footsteps back to the van and then continued our shoreline wanderings in the other direction.
This is Sant Isodoro Tower. It’s one of three along this stretch of coastline which were built close enough together to signal messages to one another. If you zoom in you can just about make out the next one, Torre Squillace, a couple of miles up the coast.
The tower and its neighbours were built in the 1560s but this one had to be demolished and rebuilt in 1622. Not sure why, but it does have an interesting external stone staircase very much like one we saw previously in Paestum.
We’ve seen a few of these traditional circular houses today in varying conditions of repair. They are called "Trulli" and if all goes to plan we will be seeing a good few more of them over the coming days.
The wind has dropped and we are all alone in the car park. The nearby Restaurant converted itself into a disco bar for a while earlier but that also seems to have quietened down now. I’m still trying to calm myself down after witnessing the Tractor Boys’ thrilling last gasp winner against Southampton which keeps us top of the Championship table. Come On You Blues!!!
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