Tuesday was a travel day. But first, we went to see the caves (grotte) that give Castellana Grotte part of its name. We took a 2 hour guided tour through 12 caves covering 3 km and going more than 60 metres underground. Truly spectacular, and each cave has its own distinct character. Unfortunately, the only cave where photography is allowed is the first cave, The Grave, which is the only cave which has an opening to above ground. It is impressive but many of the others are even more so. Very glad we decided to do the tour before heading South for Otranto, the easternmost town in Italy and far down the "heel of the boot" in Puglia.
The drive was really easy, basically all on major highways and I only missed 2 turns all day, both costing only a couple of minutes! We got to our destination in Otranto, a B&B called Tenuta Belvedere, and, looking at the very unimpressive gate just down the street from the train station, it was hard to imagine what a great place it would turn out to be. Behind the gate are expansive gardens of a "gated community" hidden in the centre of town and our B&B is in a big building with several different wings. Our room was upgraded at no charge and our host is wonderful, giving us tons of useful information. After checking in, we headed straight down to the local beach in town, which is a five minute walk away, and got a little unwinding time after a long day. Then, back to clean up and head out to dinner on the waterfront at White, a restaurant recommended by our host. It was my belated Birthday dinner and I had some very good beef, for a change of pace.
Wednesday, after a tremendous breakfast, we wandered around the old town, (Centro Storico) checking out the cathedral, with its wonderful ceramic tile floor and its "alter of skulls" (the remains of 800 martyrs from 1480), the Castello (we didn't go in), the Torre Matte, a tower with a very interesting exhibit of natural wood "images", and a lovely little church, Chiesetta di San Pietro, that had great frescoes that have been recovered.
Then we got in the car and headed up the coast about 3 Km to Baia dei Turchi, a wonderful stretch of beach that looked very Caribbean, and spent a few hours just chilling--even splurged on renting chairs and a palapa. Then back home for a brief nap and a little wine on our roof-top terrace, where I sit as I write this as the sun goes down. (It's clear out, so we can see Albania in the distance.)
2025-02-10