3 April 2024 – Otranto

Miles driven today = 0

Total Miles to date = 3,288

I mentioned yesterday that Otranto is Italy’s most easterly town, so it’s their equivalent to Lowestoft if you like.  I have nothing against the second largest town in my home county of Suffolk and I guess they do a bit of fishing here too, but that is where the similarities end.  Lisa declared that it is probably her favourite seaside town of all those we have visited thus far in Italy and I would find it hard to disagree.  It’s probably absolutely heaving during the Summer peak season but at the moment it is just perfect.

We had planned to do a bit of laundry this morning but the site washing machine looked a bit dubious and there was nowhere obviously convenient to rig up a line so we binned that idea and followed a sunken lane downhill from the far end of the campsite to the Castle which forms the entrance point to the old town from our direction of approach.

Once you’ve seen one of these Aragonese Castle you’ve seen them all I guess.  Mind you, this one does look to be in particularly good nick and they had an interesting sounding exhibition about Frida Kahlo, who is somebody Lisa has always been interested in.  But you could only buy a combined ticket at €12 a pop so we declined.

The old defensive wall around the town is still virtually complete so we took a walk along the bastion.  With great views across the Ionian Sea you can clearly make out the mountains of Albania in the distance.

There are a lot of tourist tat shops occupying the narrow lanes and, much like most of Southern Italy, ceramics are heavily represented.  These cheerfully rotund figures caught my eye.

Honeys, curds, olives, vinegars and liqueurs.

From the outside Otranto’s Cathedral doesn’t look to be much to write home about.  Most of the building is 12^th Century Norman but the frontage is later and the rose window and Baroque Entrance were dated 1674.

Inside, however, the entire floor of the Church is covered in a fascinating Tree of Life mosaic, created between 1163 and 1165 by a monk who went by the name of Pantaleone.

The mosaics cover numerous scenes from the Old Testament.

There are also pictures of various beasts both real and mythical.

Otranto is best known for one grim chapter in its history which occurred in 1480.  A Turkish fleet laid siege to the town for 15 days before successfully capturing it.  By the time they had done so only 800 of Otranto’s 12,000 residents were left alive.  Among them was the Bishop, who was executed by being sawn in half and when the rest of the survivors refused to renounce their Christian faith they were all marched up a hill and beheaded. 

The skulls and bones of the martyrs are displayed in glass cases in one of the Cathedral’s side chapels.

Set into the alter is an illuminated rock, upon which the executions allegedly took place.  All pretty grisly really.

Down in the crypt the ceiling is supported by more than 70 pillars.  Note they have a variety of different designs and come from various periods so it is believed that these were recycled from other buildings.

Many of the ancient frescos were defaced during the Turkish occupation but any which represented the Madonna were left unscarred.

Looking across the bay to one of the newer parts of Otranto the colour of the Sea seemed impossibly blue.

This statue, erected in honour of the martyrs, stands outside of the Alfonsina Gate. 

Another of the gates in the defensive wall.

The Sea Gate leads from the old town down to the harbour.  It also used to be a Church.

We loved how clean Otranto is, especially when compared to so many other Italian resorts.  We saw no litter whatsoever and it was refreshing to see so many restaurants open for business.  At least this part of Italy is finally coming out of hibernation it seems.

The tiny Church of St Peter & St Paul is considered to be one of the most important Byzantine buildings in Puglia.

The frescoes on the walls and ceiling date from between the 10^th and 13^th Centuries.

They included this fascinating representation of the Last Supper.

Talking of food, we were getting a tad peckish ourselves, so we picked a small restaurant up one of the narrow side alleys and both decided on their set menu of the day.  Mixed Seafood Pasta to start.

This was followed by bream fillets with tomato with lemon sorbet for dessert.  Together with a generous glass of the house white it was just €24 a head.

After that lot I fell asleep in the sun once we had got back to the van and managed to toast my head somewhat.  Considering the site was all but empty when we got here yesterday it has filled up considerably since.  Most vans are Italian or German but we do have Austrian neighbours whose Cathago A Class looks as though it has come straight out of the showroom.  2 months of road grime on top of our already slightly grubby vehicle is putting us to shame somewhat but I’ve promised the van I’ll reward all her efforts with a good scrub down as soon as we get her home.   

4 April 2024 - Coast Hopping