Puglia: Lecce and Gallipoli

Gallipoli

Whilst we were in Puglia we made visits to the two main towns of the south, Lecce and Gallipoli. Lecce has both a Serie A football team and a reputation as the Florence of the south. This is superbly covered in the Never Ending Voyage travel guide. We spent several hours in the town during our journey to our Pajare in Specchia. Lecce is a busy university town, although most of the students and many school pupils were demonstrating in the historic centre for Action on Climate Change. We were impressed by their commitment until we saw the plastic bags and bottles that had been disposed of on the streets after the fast-food outlets had been scavenged. The medieval town was contained within walls with a massive and impressively carved gateway. The Roman amphitheatre was being improved and surrounded by scaffolding but otherwise, the town captivated us with its narrow streets, piazzas, churches and friendly ambience. There was little traffic within the centre, and pedestrians ruled. Even at the end of the season, tourists were being pursued by hawkers whose persistence in selling bags and clothing was distracting.

We were still an hour away from Specchia where we were to stay for the next five days so we spent the afternoon absorbing the atmosphere of Lecce. We had a late lunch and met a vocal American lady and her husband. She had worked for the federal government and was very disparaging about her president. They were on a long holiday to escape the daily embarrassment of his tweets and irredeemable lack of statesmanship. She hoped that impeachment hearings would have started when they returned home to North Carolina, which had voted for Trump in 2016. She was a Europhile and couldn't believe why the UK wanted to sacrifice membership of the EU for a trade deal with the USA. "We sure as hell will take advantage of your predicament" was her take on this.

We had a day trip to Gallipoli later in the week. It was quiet at the end of the season and we parked close to the bridge that links the original walled city to the modern town. We walked around the perimeter of the city along the high protective sea walls and I had octopus for lunch, which was a mistake. We visited the cathedral and bought an ice cream cone that was the largest ever, it was a slow day for sales. Returning past the new harbour built for pleasure craft, we were reminded that this had been the largest port in Italy for olive exports.

The modern town seemed prosperous compared to other small towns in the region but lacked the atmosphere of the original city so we began the journey back to base. There is a good 6-mile of sandy beaches to the south of the town but we drove on to Torre Mozza where we were tempted to spend a couple of hours on the beach as the sun sank over the Ionian sea. I managed a leisurely swim before returning to our Pajare.

LecceTriumphal Arch

Lecce Roman Amphitheatre

Piazza del Duomo

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Lecce Cathedral in Piazza del Duomo

Baroque sculptured interior of Lecce Cathedral

Gallipoli harbour

Gallipoli fortificatiobs