Day 17:

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We met Paola and Dagmar at 8:00 am for a walk north to beautiful rock beaches. Only seven people came, since the others attended a party in the country which lasted very late.


We stopped to peek at a very modern and well designed house by an architect that Paola knew. The owner happened to be there and invited us into the garden and the house. Then he picked ripe apricots from a tree in his garden and gave them to each of us. They were delicious. It such fun to travel with Paola because she knows everyone!

We walked for 45 minutes along the rocky shoreline, with lots of familiar wildflowers such as Queen Anne’s Lace and Bachelor Buttons. We came to a beautiful area where we swam and sunned. It was very warm and the cold water was refreshing!!!! Paola and Dagmar and I continued on another 30 minutes to another very beautiful area, and swam and sunned again. Then we walked home by the road.

Martha took me out to lunch at a nearby restaurant. We sat on the street under a large awning and watch people stroll by. We had a variety plate of many different kinds of local specialities.

We went on another sight seeing trip to the Dolmens. They are preshitoric stone arrangements similar to Stonehenge, probably from the Bronze Age (1700 BC). We bussed to Giurdignano, a very ancient town, and out into the countryside. I don’t know which dolmens we saw by name, but there are many in this area including the Stabile, Grassi, Chiancuse, etc.

The setting is quite striking… huge stone megaliths set amidst olive trees and vineyards! The limestone rocks are enormous, some piled on top of each other. There meaning is a mystery but archeologists feel that they were probably astrological guides of some sort. Paola told us about one in particular, that is alined with the sun’s rising and setting. She felt that it was the beginning of architecture. There was a strange doll on the site, and I offered to remove it for pictures, but she said that it would be bad luck to touch it. The stones are unprotected; we could climb on them without restriction!

We explored the area, admired the ancient olive trees, found fig and crabapple and pear trees as well. We returned to town and saw several menhirs, tall single stones, erected to mark burial plots. There are 60 in this area. We admired the Menhir San Vincenzo on the main street. We went into the crypt of San Salvatore, a byzantine structure dating back to the 8^th century, created by Greek/Italian monks. The entire crypt was carved out of one stone, like a cave.

There was a fiesta going on in the town, and a procession led by children came out of the church while we were there. Our restaurant was the Osteria degli Amici, right off the square. We had (another) fabulous group dinner with antipasto, several pasta dishes, and LAMB grilled, delicious! Another wonderful evening in Southern Italy!!!

LOTS MORE photos below!

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