2 April 2024 – Gallipoli & Santa Maria di Leuca

Miles driven today = 83

Total Miles to date = 3,288

We had a minor disaster this morning.  I noticed that the grey waste drain was open and the handle we use to open and close it was nowhere to be found so I obviously left it attached before we left Matera yesterday and it had fallen off somewhere in between.  I can make do with an adjustable spanner for the rest of the trip and get a replacement when we get home so it’s no biggy.  A spare for keeping in the garage might be a sensible procurement for future trips too so I will pop two on my shopping list.

Today has been spent bumbling around the southern portion of Italy’s heel.  We initially made the 30 minutes’ drive to Gallipoli.  Not the World War I battlefield in Turkey where so many ANZAC forces lost their lives, but the ancient Greek island settlement just off the Ionian Coast of Puglia.  Much like Syracuse, the old town is on an island reached by a short bridge but it is much smaller than the Sicilian town we visited last week and we easily covered all the sights plus had time for a café breakfast before our 2 hours of paid parking expired.

The first thing that greets you as you cross the bridge is the Castle.  It was built by the Byzantines in the 13th Century and later added to by the Angevins and the Aragonese but there has been a structure on the site ever since the Greeks were here in the 5th Century BC.

It was still relatively early in the day but there were a few tourist shops open.  Leather sandals appear to be high on the list of specialist goods available here as well as natural sea sponges. 

The Basilica Cathedral of Saint Agatha is a 17th Century Baroque Church which replaced a 12th Century building after it was destroyed.

It’s often puzzled me why they built other buildings so close in front of churches like this, so that you are unable to really appreciate the artistry of the sculptures without giving yourself a crick in the neck.  I guess here the amount of space was limited so it was done out of necessity.

We did our usual tour of the back streets off the beaten tourist track to see if we could find anything of interest and managed to get ourselves slightly lost and in peril of being mown down by scooters and Piaggio 3-wheelers in the narrow, winding alleys. 

Luckily, this chap put us back on track.

My previous comment on how on Earth they managed to find enough people to fill all the Churches and other religious establishments was equally relevant here with an Oratorio and a Church right next door to one another.  

…And yet another Church just a few doors further along.

The Spiaggia della Purita sits beneath the old city walls. 

Also viewed here from the other end with the lighthouse occupying a small island a little way further offshore.

One of several small harbours dotted around the town.

I really have no idea what this was all about in April!

We moved on to a rocky promontory called Punta Ristola,  just outside of Santa Maria di Leuca.  This is the most southerly point on the Puglian peninsular.  The very stiletto tip of Italy’s boot of you like.

I scrambled down a rocky path to get as close to the point as I possibly could.

This was as far as I dared to go.  To the right is the Ionian Sea, to the left is the Adriatic.

We drove through Santa Maria.  It looked lovely but there didn’t seem to be many lunch opportunities open today so we didn’t stop.

Instead we headed north on the SS275, which took us through Gagliano del Capo, Alessano, Montesano Salentino and other smaller but no less fabulously sounding places, before taking a right turn to Italy’s most easterly town, Otranto.   At 18.5 degrees East we are further from the Greenwich Meridian here than Bratislava is, which surprised me somewhat.

Our host speaks no English but we were able to ascertain that we are only a 20 minute’s walk from the castle and the old town.  We’ll go for an explore tomorrow but we felt we had done enough for one day so this afternoon we were happy sitting in the sunshine, reading and watching the World go by.

3 April 2024 - Otranto