The Heel and Toe of Italy

After bedding down Songster in order to leave her for 18 days, we were ready to catch the bus to Igoumenitsa then catch the overnight ferry at midnight to Bari, Italy.  It was a long day and night but fortunately the ferry had very few passengers and we were able to stretch out and get some sleep.

Ferry coming in at midnight

Early morning over the Adriatic

Our first views of Italy

We picked up our hire car in Bari and we were ready to start our road trip of the Puglia and Calabria provinces of Italy.  We first headed towards Alberobello.  Aberobello is known for its unique trullo buildings.  Trulli houses have comical conical roofs of dry limestone.  They look like houses made for the woodland fairy folk.  The popular story of their origin is that they started building them in the 17^th Century to avoid property taxes.  The dry stone wall construction could be easily dismantled whenever the tax inspector was in the area.  Now Trulli are tourist attractions and have been renovated as boutique accommodation.

 

 

 

 

The countryside in Puglia is very pretty with limestone dry stone walls surrounding the neat and tidy olive groves and lush green fields of winter crops.  We spent the night in Ostuni and struggled to find anywhere for dinner.  The Italians don’t start thinking about having dinner until about 9 pm.  We hadn’t had any lunch as being the off season, the few cafes that were open had shut by about 2 pm and we had missed out.  This plus the fact that we only had a few hours sleep on the ferry the night before meant we really just wanted an early dinner and early to bed.  We finally managed to find a restaurant near our B & B that would serve us at 7 pm.  I must say though, the food was worth the wait – delicious seafood in this part of the world.

The next day we continued south to Brindisi to check out potential marinas and anchorages for next season and then on to the very pretty city of Lecce.  Lecce is known as the Florence of the south.  This is drawing a bit of a long bow but the city does have many lovely Renaissance buildings as well as an ancient amphitheatre only recently excavated.  The view from our B&B was very festive.

The view from our B&B in Lecce

Old town Gate

Recently excavated Roman amphitheatre

   The next day we continued south into the heel.  First stop was Ortanto, a very pretty town with the 15^th Century Aragonese Castle, overlooking the harbour.  We spent an hour or two walking around the delightful old town.  This port is definitely high on our list to visit on Songster next season.

Harbour at Ortanto

Castle wall

 

Recycled plastic bottle Christmas tree

Ship sculpture of rusty steel and glass

We continued to Leuca at the very tip of the heel.  This town has a great harbour but it is definitely a holiday town and the entire place was closed up for the winter.  We had hoped to grab some lunch here but there was nothing open and we continued up the west coast of the heel to Gallipoli.

Gallipoli is a sizable city with several good ports and another great old castle around the old town.  We found a restaurant still open on the blustery windy headland of the old town and had a fantastic seafood linner.  We had ordered a mixed seafood antipasta thinking it would be a small plate to share.  Instead they brought out 6 separate plates of exquisite seafood:  raw prawns in a light peanut sauce, raw tuna with grated parmesan, eggplant with calamari and prawns, stuffed zucchini with fish pesto and a fish cake.  Delizioso!  The sun was setting as we finished our linner and totally replete we headed back to our B&B in Lecca.

Beachfront at Gallipoli

Castle wall

Fantastic seafood pasta

The next day we had a long drive around the instep of the foot into Calabria.  The neat and tidy plains of Puglia gave way to the rugged hills and slightly poorer region of Calabria.  We arrived in Crotone after dark to the nicest B&B we have yet to stay in, the B&B Castello, right next to the castle wall.  A lot of care and thought had gone into decorating and organisation of this small B&B.  The hosts were delightful and returned an hour after we checked in with fresh baked apple cake to welcome us.  

The next morning we walked around the waterfront doing our usual reconnoitre for possible visits with Songster.  The waterfront was very industrial and looked like there the area was doing some scrapping of old boats as there were half a dozen half sunk wrecks in the harbor – a very sad sight.

Cyclamens and old architecture

Boat graveyard

Castle now a restaurant enroute to Crotone

Our next stop was the city of Reggio Calabria, right on the toe of Italy overlooking the island of Sicily.  We again arrived on dark (the short winter days make for truncated days of sightseeing).  We enjoyed the festive winter lights around the town with Christmas shoppers busy buying gifts.

Christmas Square in Reggio Calabria

 It was time to start making our way back to Bari.  Along the way we stopped at the village of Scalla.  This picturesque village is known for its unique boats used to fish for swordfish.  In winter the waves pound onto the beach and headland.  The town rises above the water on steep cliffs and narrow roads. 

Rainbow over Sicily across the Messina Strait

Castle at Scilla

Windswept beach

Large truck stuck on the narrow steep streets of Scilla

We spent the night in the hill town of Cosenza.  It was cold and wet so we didn’t see much of the town.  We woke up to views of snow in the mountains.  

Snow covered mountains near Cosenza

Finally we were back in Bari to return our rental car.  We really enjoyed seeing this part of southern Italy, away from the usual tourist spots, but we did tend to remark how much nicer everything would be in summer.  Despite Bob having spent two years in Antarctica, we just are not winter people.  Never mind, we will return to this coast on Songster next season when it is warm.

Italian Road Trip