We came to like our bed and breakfast a little better in the morning. Yesterday the room had seemed claustrophobic and we did not feel all the comfortable; this morning, at breakfast, we can to really like the family whose house we shared. The main part of the house has a several beautiful open air spaces. One was the terrace where we were offered a wonderful breakfast.
Yes, bring the laptop to breakfast is tacky, but the wifi signal was much stronger on the terrace. There are wonderful views of the city and the surrounding area from the rooftop.
We chatted last night and over breakfast this morning with Peter and Blanca, two travelers from the Czech Republic.
Soon enough, we were packed and off riding through olive groves again. It was a beautiful day.
Ugento is somewhat inland, but it did not take us long to ride down to the coast. John loves to ride along the beach, particularly on dedicated cycle paths like this one.
We passed through a number of small towns. Most of these appeared to be summer homes for Italians. It was a weekday and not high season yet, so most of the houses were closed up tight and there were few people to be seen on the street. We did pass this house with Lady Liberty on the roof and sort of figured there was a story here….
Most of the coastline here is rocky, though the water is translucently blue. The few sandy beaches are pretty mobbed, even in the off-season. We stopped at one of them, Punta della Suina, to spend the afternoon. We walked through a pine grove to get to the beach. John instantly remembered a scene in Fellini’s Juliet of the Spirits where they walk through pine trees to get to the beach. I sometimes think we are on the Italian Neo-Realist film tour of the country.
Like most Italian beaches we have seen, much of the beach is operated by a restaurant which rents out chairs and umbrellas. John immediately decided he had to get a spot on the island.
A chair and an umbrella on the island wasn’t cheap, but it avoided a the crowds and the disco music on the beach and we had a view of the water.
Not all Italians look like they just out of the pages of Vogue Italia. For some, the years of inactivity and linguini bolognese are starting to catch up with them.
About four o’clock, we decided it was time to get on the bikes again and push on. We road along a fairly busy road for about six kilometers until we came to Gallipoli. Now, John, the film major, wants to make a couple things clear here. First, the massacre of all those Australians during World War I happened at the other Gallipoli, the one in Turkey. Second, the director of Gallipoli was Peter Weir and NOT Mel Gibson.
As we rode into town, the new part of this Gallipoli reminded us a lot of Montevideo, Uruguay. Of course, we were careful NOT to say that because Uruguay was playing Italy in the World Cup tonight and we did not want people to think we were rooting for the wrong team. Not that we really know anything about soccer at all…. Our accommodation for the night was in the Hotel Baroni 33. This is obviously the hotel of choice for bike tour operators. A group of 8 Germans showed us on identical bikes just when we did.
The hotel was nice enough, but the room was so tiny this time that a cat couldn’t have swung a dead rat. I think I am for fashionably small portions, but I am not so delighted by hotel rooms about as big a telephone booth. Of course, some of you have no idea what a telephone booth is. You are too young. Just Google it.
We walked down the Corso Roma a few blocks and crossed a causeway into the old part of town. Gallipoli was originally basically an island and was protected by walls from attack. Some of the fortifications are still intact.
We stepped into the cathedral where we admired the art.
Others were there for reflection and we tried to be respectful of that.
Well, as respectful as you can be when you are taking surreptitious pictures of people. We walked around looking for a cup of espresso afterwards, but Italians do not drink coffee in the early evening, so we were politely informed that the coffee machine was turned off and was going to stay that way. Did we want vino rosso? No, grazie.
EVERYWHERE people we watching the the World Cup. I am sure that most of these people could have watched it at home, but they preferred to watch it together on the street.
Maybe, like this young lad, they were all set for a victory for Italy.
Unfortunately, they were disappointed as Uruguay won 1-0. No joy in Mudville … or in Gallipoli.
After our massive dinner the night before, we were looking for something light to eat. We walked up the shore of the new part of the city which is lined with food stalls and carts.
John had a hamburger, and I had a spicy sausage panini. These came “complete”, meaning they had french fries in the sandwich. That was different. Well, John also likes to point out that the bread was great and the tomatoes were fresh. And they were only 4€ each.
There was also little rides along with the food stands. I am sure this little fellow slept well after a fun day.
Well, it is time for us to go to sleep, too. Tomorrow we return to Lecce and finish our bicycle adventure.
