Living in an Inside Cabin

Lunch view in Gallipoli

The next field trip was Gallipoli.  Not Turkey, if you are thinking I am an idiot to do that in one day.  It’s on the west coast of the heel and is another ancient walled town that was occupied by several countries over the centuries.  It is now a resort town with a REAL beach, meaning sand.  And it has FREE parking, my kind of town.  But I get ahead of myself…

I thought I should add another stop in the day and chose Nardo famous for its olive oil and now famous streets.  I got myself into the old town easily but then as the streets narrowed, I got a bit panicky as I thought I would either get lost or stuck.  Found my way out, excited to walk through the area ,and parked the car.  Imagine my surprise when the nice signore said that it was gratis parking. Two lovely churches grace the piazza area and the streets just shouted “Take my photo”.  Happily I obliged.  Left town with olive oil and some handmade sun dried tomatoes from the lady who owns the fattoria.

Gallipoli was the easiest town to find parking, free in the port area.  It made me smile as I wandered the passegiatta area with shops, cafes and laundry hanging anywhere.  Did my usual street walking to get they lay of the land and the photos.  Decided that the beach was definitely calling to me so headed back to the car to change and get my beach gear.   A cafe with a view showed up on my walk and I ordered a pizza margherita and a drink.  The bloody pizza was so huge for 4 euros, I didn’t even finish it, and headed to the beach.

In the old days, when I spent time at the Jersey shore – south Jersey, I will add, the best time to be at the beach was when the families packed up about 5pm and the sun was still high but not so hot.  Today was like that, people were leaving and there was a nice breeze.  Unfortunately a couple of families with boys decided to stay and they were playing a soccer match on the beach.  I ended up with a lot of sand on my towel and had to stop the ball more than once.  I said the only word I know that would apply, “basta”, it means enough.  Fortunately a local lady told them them to move their game in no uncertain terms.  That worked better.  I found another reason I need to know more Italian.

These young lovers were so cute I had to capture them.  They asked me to take their photo so they got to take home a digital memory as as well.

I waited for the sunset and returned to Lecce for my final evening stroll.