We were up and ready to leave Gallipoli fairly early today. We knew that today, our last ride of the trip, would be a long one. We had breakfast on the rooftop terrace of the hotel. It was a pleasant stop to sit, and they had a lot of American coffee instead of espresso. I am all for eating the foods of other cultures, but mostly after ten o’clock in the morning. We packed up, said goodbye to our tiny room, and set off on the bikes.
The route leaving Gallipoli was not easy or pretty. We had to share roadways with trucks for several kilometers before we were out of town. Once we were in the countryside again, things were nicer. We saw the usual rows of stone pines trimmed to look like umbrellas.
We stopped at an old masseria - sort of a southern Italian version of a plantation - that had been taken over by some food processing operation. The gardens were open to the pubic, and we took a quick look around. This was the most humid day of our trip so far, and I am sure John wished the fountain were a pool!
Along the way we met some friendly shepherds with goats. The goats found the hay far more fascinating that the tourists on bikes.
Our only real stop of the trip was in the town of Nardo. This is the town square. It is a bit faded and shabby now, but you can tell that it was once pretty grand.
Legend has it that the city was founded when a bull scratched the ground with his hoof, and a spring of water appeared. This gives the town both its emblem and motto of “Tauro non Bovi”, “A Bull, not an Ox”. In the 1930, Mussolini’s government built a fountain in the town square. After the war was over the town government had to have the fascist emblems discretely changed to something less offensive.
The fountain still provides potable water to the town, though a better plumbing system means that the locals no longer have to come here each day to fill up pails and bottles. But it’s still fun.
Right about this time, we noticed that our camera was missing. We started searching frantically for it and asking people. After we had become reconciled to losing it and were trying to be philosophical about it, we went back to our bikes. Our camera was hanging on the seat. Did we put it there somehow? Or did some kind person, figuring we had set it down in the wrong place, decide to return it to the clueless American tourists? We will never know. But we were happy to see it again! I’m holding the camera there like Perseus with Medusa’s head.
We checked out the local cathedral where there were some nice frescos. John stopped in a handicrafts store where he was taken with these bells in the shape of a woman with a mustache and beard. The woman who ran the shop explained that supposedly in the old times the feudal lord had the privilege of sleeping with any woman on her wedding night before her husband did. One man, outraged by this practiced, dressed as his wife to save her honor. But in his hurry he did not bother to shave his facial hair, so the local prince had him executed.
As an aside most historian doubt that droit du seigneur ever existed. But Voltaire, the Bill Maher of the eighteenth century, wrote about it to illustrate the horrors of the bad old days - and no doubt to help sell his book! And we found the salacious tale amusing enough, too.
After chatting with the proprietors of the store, we jumped on our bikes and pedaled away from Nardo. We knew that by this time the hotel in Lecce would be closed for siesta, so John and I, once we were a few kilometers out of town, decided to have a siesta or our own among the olive trees.
But after a half hour of rest or so, it was time to pedal the last few kilometers into town. Once again we were on busy roads and had to be vigilant. And soon we were back at our hotel, the Palazzo dei Dondoli. John was not sure if he was feeling triumph
or simply exhaustion!
The hotel was still closed for siesta, so we went into town for some overpriced gelato. We figured it would be open again around 4:30 and we were right. They put us in room 1 this time. It’s nice and big
and has a nice bathroom, even if we did have a little problem with the shower drain.
In the evening, after we had napped and showered, we return to town for dinner at Blu Notte, highly recommended by Lonely Planet. We were not that impressed and found the food average and the service less than friendly, even by European standards. The passeggiata, the Italian evening stroll, was still going strong around ten o’clock when we left the restaurant. We stopped by the Cathedral square to admire the buildings lit up at night.
Tomorrow, we get our car and start driving north.
