Day 29 – Saturday 14 September

It was kind of sad leaving our little villa nest where we have been made so welcome by our hosts. Our last breakfast was enjoyed on our terrace with a warm breeze gently caressing our body and mind against the backdrop of a brilliant blue sky and olive trees.

With lots of hugs and kisses we bid farewell to Marielle and Emilio and set off on our mainly strada (motorway) journey of 1.50hrs south to Otranto. Travel was pretty smooth, not too many close calls and we can now anticipate the speeders, the drifters, and the go slower drivers, and of course getting used to mind reading lane changes (no indicator use).

Halfway along the journey we stopped off at a service station-cafe to go to the toilet and grab a coffee. Walking along to it I didn’t see the drop in the path and took a fall. Unfortunately this type of incident seems to becoming traditional on holiday. Whilst my kissing the tarmac or pavement has always been dramatic, thankfully I have suffered more from embarrassment than injury – sustaining impressive bruises and scrapes but no broken bones or sprains as yet. I thought of my poor mum who has just had a very nasty fall and injury at home and mine is nothing in comparison. I am feeling a reasonable amount of pain just below my right knee and have good swelling but will continue on and hope for no more.

We arrived in Otranto nicely on check in at 2pm and parked near the old town and walked the short 350m distance to our hotel. We found out at check in by a bit of good luck (and a tiny bit of research) the park we chose is the one we get free as part of our package at the hotel. We had left our big bags in the car as we knew they provided a scooter – tuk tuk service and would get them later. This hotel is one of our splurges and is a 5* with a few extras included – Turkish baths, free mini bar, welcome bottle of Prosecco on arrival, on top of the usual including a sumptuous big room with luxury bathroom in a renovated 18th century palace.

The bed test has come up better than the last few, but still not Northern European standard. However, I think the mini bar will compensate for this. Once checked in we relaxed, had a cuppa, got into the non alcoholic mini bar drinks and chips (we only had a snack lunch which was last nights picnic leftover roll and prosciutto) and then wandered around a bit to check out the old city.

Otranto has a fabulous vibe and is rather lovely – just as we had envisaged and hoped. It is always hard even looking at video and advertorial to know exactly what a place is like or whether one is just seeing the good bits presented and after those two or three scenes the rest is rather bland. It is clean, airy and bordered by clear beautiful blue and green water of a protected bay, has a nice marina and on the other side is of course the Adriatic Sea.

Old town has a castle and some of the old walls, and two notable churches. It is a typically white Puglia town, with easy access off the main highway and plenty of tourist facilities of shops and restaurants. In our opinion whilst it is not as flower and plant filled as Locorotondo, it is prettier than Polignano and Monopoli, and its water border makes it far more impressive to us.

We would have gone for a swim but there is quite a breeze today and the swell was a bit like the one in Monopoli yesterday – instead we shared an ice cream – Ricotta cassata and hazelnut on the edge of the water, people watched and just soaked in the blue and white scene in the balmy late afternoon sun.

Photo of a pomegranate growing out of a wall – fabulous!

We completed a lap of the old town along the walls and up a tower on the wall before returning home to get a recommendation for dinner, have an aperitif, and catch the moon rise at 7:30pm.

I was hoping for the same orange moon as last night and was indeed rewarded with a lovely show – albeit the aperitif clouded my judgement on lens choice/preparation, forgetting to fit my longest lens so the results were poor. Ah well we enjoyed the event regardless of the photography blunder from our high spot on the tower. There is always the hope that tomorrow will provide another opportunity.

After the moon show we wandered down the golden lit streets now full of shoppers and diners and managed to get a seat at one of the recommended restaurants. We had a lovely broad bean soup with chicory and Burrata, prosciutto and rocket starters.Vern had veal fillet in 8 year old vincotto and I had orecchiette with calamari, prawns, cherry and sun dried tomato.

The entrees were lovely, we have developed a real love for Burrata which is mozzarella on the outside and a combination of stracciatella and cream on the inside. Yup, delicious. But the mains were missing the wow factor. Again the seafood was over cooked and too salty and the veal smothered with sauce drowning it; everything just lacking finesse.

After dinner we admired the array of offerings in the shop windows – ceramics, jewellery, local products, clothes, leather goods and sunglasses as we strolled back to the hotel; wishing we has the room to take some home. I think our time in the area is going to be too short for all it has to offer.