Friday 18th October 

Bari to Otranto

Slept well after the plane issue was resolved and heard nothing from Trenitalia to say the trips had been cancelled, so it was with confidence we struck out to the local cafe for a standup coffee and croissant.

Dropped our bags in for storage at shop next to accommodation and paid our €15 minding fee.

Headed off for our self guided 5 hour walking tour of Bari, both new and old city. The town was certainly going through a construction boom with new buildings sitting next to old and with remarkably sympathetic architecture. Some places were doing floor to roof changes with buildings totally gutted.

Crossing the road is still a raffle with Zebra crossings and green lights meaning little. It’s a bit like Vietnam , pick a break and walk with confidence. 

At some stage there was  a trolley bus system, which became defunct and then was going to be reopened. Nothing to date but  overhead  wires still in place.

The city is very vibrant and the people friendly. Only cranky person was the guy from local automotive industry opposite Government building trying to fire up his 6 comrades participating in a National Union 24  hour strike.

Was surprised to find a statue of Puccini, as it’s not his territory- he was from Lucca  way. Well if I realised it was Piccini it might have made more sense- Specsavers moment- that said he was a famous composer, perhaps not of Turandot  standard.

We were soon in the old town with its narrow streets where verandas on each side nearly touch. During the Covid lockdown people used the verandas as a contact medium whilst preserving the 2 metre rule. Like many old towns the washing line is an attachment to the veranda rail. 

The local blind man must only have bought  one pattern of material as there was a common thread as you looked down the streets.

The most intriguing part of the old town is where the Nona’s sit outside their houses making the myriad of different coloured and shaped pasta, along with biscuits with as many flavours as the local gelato shop.

It was fascinating to watch them make different shapes, with no apparent change in execution. We naturally bought some bickies to munch along the trail.

Left the narrow streets and headed to St Nikolas church which took pride of place in a huge square. It was the first encounter with large groups of tourist on the day,  with lines filing in and out. It was still only about 10% on Dubrovnik density. An interested group included five Monks clad in their brown habits and sandals.

Inside it was huge and ornate. A priest and 3 helpers were conducting a service for about 50 people sitting in a special area adjacent to the pulpit. The camera clickers were occupying many of the other available seats.

Left the old town and walked along the port wall where major works were in place constructing a new seawall and marina facilities.

Around the older side of the port we came across the gnarled fisherman selling their catches. Looking at the catches one wondered what a six inch cod would be used for. One thing for certain was that the squid would be tender with the fisherman slapping it on the stone wharf for 10 minutes and then bashing it with a wooden board before dropping it in the display tub.

The area was obviously an after work haunt for the fisherman,  as  several tables were full of guys swilling beer and playing some sort of card games that evoked some pretty high emotions bordering on fisticuffs.

Had a rest in the park watching the world go by and it reinforced the fact that car dealers would go broke selling people movers- other than taxi’s, family use is minimal.

Found a quiet lane for a 3 P lunch- pasta,panini and Prosecco. Sitting their I noted a whole lot of units with rainbow coloured  whirly gigs spinning around. Mentioned to Jane it must be something to do with being gay friendly. Was politely informed that they and the spiked power lines are used to deter the pigeons- never too old to learn.

After walking a street with one of the shortest people seen on tour, we found the gelato shop. Used my best Italian to get 2 cones of the same flavour and got the flavour right, but a double serving.  Had to live with my linguistic shortcomings and demolish the lot.

Sat in a park watching the kids in their lunch break and as expected 6 Italian kids and a soccer ball becomes a World Cup final with no holds barred in trying to be a goal scorer.

Thete was some great street art that took the focus away from the graffiti vandals.

Headed back and picked up our luggage and made our way to the station, warding off a local tout who wanted to help with luggage and tickets. Played some platform lotto before finally getting on the express service to Lecce. Don’t worry about booking a seat it’s sit wherever you want. Thankfully our wrong seats never got challenged by the rightful owner.

The trip down soon got out into rural areas with olives and vegetables the main crops. The olive groves had been decimated by disease and it was sad to see so many dead. Apparently the annual crop has diminished from 500,000 to 300,000 litres in the region over the last 3-4 years.

Many older trees have been lopped to prevent the disease spreading and other torn out and replaced with new growth.

Arrived in Lecce with more platform lotto before ending up on a remote platform with about 10 other passengers.

Passed down through Brindisis, which looks to be a relic of WW2 with lots of cement 4-6 storey apartments.

Arrived at the next change- an unattended station where you crossed the lines to check the next platform. With a bit of help from local kids it was back over the lines and onto a much slower, smaller and less populated train. By the time we reached the last station of Maglie it was down to 5 customers.

Last leg with just 3 passengers was on a motor rail – like the old one that ran from Sutherland to Waterfall. It chugged and rattled its way to the terminus at Otranto and all three of us alighted.

No taxi so it was a 1.6 km walk with the GPS app guiding us along. The town was basically empty at 645.

Skirted the old town and found our accommodation which looked to have been a church or monastery. Got a lovely spacious room where the shower won best on tour.

Cleaned up and headed to town to find a great restaurant The pork was divine and the Fiano white wine a great accompaniment.

After dinner we walked down around the harbour where there was a bit more activity and then into the old town which in places was totally deserted. The whole town looks charming and can’t wait to explore it in the light of day.

Tomorrow is a warm up walk out through the olive groves. Timing of walk will be dependent on the rain as it’s forecast for most of the day.