4665 Not just Trulli...

Right down in the south of Puglia there is so much history, Otranto, which was occupied by the turks for a while (rather a bloody affair), with its Byzantine architecture and its location on the eastern tip of Italy....we could just see the mountains of Albania.

Gallipoli...the old town is fascinating, like a labyrinth and under the pavements are several old 'olive oil' factories, the rooms carved out by hand from the stone. We popped in (down) one evening and had a fascinating explanation given about its history....all in italian of course, but 'standard italian' which I could understand rather than the local dialect! The oil was used for lighting in those days and exported as far north as Scandinavia. They hadn't thought of using olive oil in cooking at that time.

We travelled around so much that I can't remember it all, but it was all fascinating...one minute you felt like you were in Greece, the next like Mexico. Very odd. The sea, however, was wonderful....just south of Gallipoli there are some lovely beaches with little bars dotted along, to keep you refreshed. The sea is shallow for quite a while there....good for the kids. And on the other side, the beaches north of Otranto are good too. We found a rocky bay with a private car park and loos, showers, snack bar...just south of Otranto. Lovely, although there was talk of the odd jellyfish if you swam out too far. Everywhere the sea was warm and crystal clear. Fantastic. (Only 'problem' was that in August it was very popular....especially at the weekend.)

Another 'interesting' place was Borgo Segezia, south of Foggia. It was a fascist 'new town' built to accommodate 3000 people, but after 3 years was abandoned. Now there are only (according to the locals) 93 italians and a large number of (dodgy, apparently) immigrant farm workers living in tents by the church. It's very strange there, because there is this huge church with a tower that you can see for miles, a few admin buildings but not much else....and is more or less in the middle of nowhere. All along the roads around that area are, from the same regime, identical farm house complexes situated on identical patches of land, all with an ID number on a plaque on the front. Most of the houses are now abandoned and the land belongs to farmers.....but it gives an eerie glimpse into 'what could have been'......

Surprisingly (well, compared with northern Italy of several years ago) the public (and restaurant/bar) loos that I used were very clean and had all the necessary bits and pieces (paper, soap etc)....just thought I'd mention that!! ;)