Otranto is beautiful little city on the Adriatic Sea known for it's tourism and at one time famous breeding horses (but we saw no evidence of that). It is the eastern most city in Italy. One of the other things that's very pretty about Otranto is that you can watch Albania while having lunch.
Simply it was a beautiful city with a cute castle and (of course) a great lunch!
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| An amazing view of the inlet... |
As part of our walkabout we went into Castello Aragonese. It was not the best castle Tom & I have ever visited. It was kind-of empty.
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There was a small exhibit of the art of Gino Marotta (an artist and film director of Italian fame).
Most of the items were so over the top I am not even going to include them here. I would rather show you the views and the creepy fun church.
One of the main cathedrals in the town held the bones of 800 Christain martyrs beheaded by the Turks when they invaded in 1480. Here it is...
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Ok, let's go to lunch...
We sat aside the amazing Adriatic Sea and had a wonderful lunch. The food was delicious and the view...well I'll let Tom's face say it all...
The place was also decorated with beautiful handmade quilts. It gave me a few ideas...
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| All quilts... |
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| handmade by... |
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| the owner! |
Now off to St. Maria di Leuca...the southern most point in the region!
It was a beautiful coastal drive along the water. Quiet, peaceful and so many different blues in the water.
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| Angels leading you to the lighthouse |
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| The beautiful coastline... |
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| With a small church... |
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| Tom entering the church |
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| & Pope Benedict |
Tiny little place with some street vendors, the church and a gelato shop! Typical Italian town...heehee
After walking around and exploring we headed off to Galipoli a small town on the west coast of the heel on the Ionian Sea. The city is split into two sections - the modern city and the old city. We explored the old city...
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| A cute little beach... |
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| and a castle! |
The town was a walking town. The only road was on the outside around the town - all the inner streets were pedestrian only. There were many lovely little churches with paintings, statues and fresco's but the best part of this day was the amazing sunset...
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| Going... |
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| going... |
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| gone! |
After sunset we headed back to Lecce for dinner and a nice cocktail.
In our next installment I will finish up our trip to Puglia with our visit to a Masseria (old olive/wine producing estate) and Alberobello a great little town with funny gnome houses called Trulli's.
On the home-front things are great!
We are in the middle of visitor season - my cousin Pat and her friend Eileen came to stay with us for a few days after their booked tour of Italy. We had a great time and it was wonderful getting to know my cousin better. We did a little touring of Rome but on the weekend we headed out to Castel Gondolfo (the Popes summer residence), Frascati, and before they left...the night tour of Rome!
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| The view from lunch - Lake Albano from Castel Gandolfo... |
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| Pat & Eileen at the Eden Hotel! |
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| ...at Castel Gondolfo... |
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| Nighttime at the Trevi... |
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| and the Colosseo! |
Next visitor is Angi then Diane & Bill...
Lots of things planned - with Angi, we will be visiting James & Greg in Berlin & with Diane & Bill we are going to Sorrento...
Great but busy times for the next few weeks. I warn everybody now that I probably will not be posting the blog for about 2 weeks.
Lastly, the garden! Everything is growing like crazy - take a look...
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| About 50 tomatoes already... |
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| My hot pepeers starting to flower... |
As always we wish all our friends and family much happiness and health!
We love you all!
Abbracci a tutti!
Ron & Tom
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