Heading South to Lecce

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Time to pack the bags, load the car, and say our farewells to our hostess, our apartment and Matera. What memories we’ll take away with us. It has been a wonderful experience walking through this historic town and meeting people, especially in the two restaurants where we had such delicious food. We hope people reading our blog are inspired enough to visit Matera if they have not already done so.

We move the car closer to the apartment to make loading easier. Within minutes two cars have filled the space left by one. Perhaps we parked in such a way we had a generous amount of space front and rear.

Soon we were leaving Matera and heading for Taranto. We have one last visit to make. On the recommendation of our hostess we turn off into a National Park situated on a ridge above the canyon opposite Matera. We could look across at this amazing city. Just as we are about to turn off we meet up with a blue Peugeot 308 boldly displaying a red French number plate. We don’t wave them down and have a chat but secretly wished them well on their travels.

Heading south the landscape becomes flat and vast. Grain crops have been harvested and large round bales of straw dot the landscape. There is the occasional olive grove with trees trimmed that must be centuries old. Approaching Taranto everything appears busy. We are only intent on a drive through with lunch under the shade of a nice tree.

After lunch we head further south towards Lecce, our destination for tonight and the next two nights. The countryside continues to be flat with reddish-brown soil and acres of olive trees and grain crops. This part of Puglia has been occupied for thousands of years. Groups of people who have lived here include the Greeks and Phoenicians as well as an ancient tribe called the Messapians. Perhaps we should have stopped in the town of Manduria but it was hot, we were tired, and the feet were sore. Maybe next time.

We arrived in Lecce ahead of schedule, found a free park (between 14:00 and 16:00 it is free) and had enough energy to wander inside the city’s wall and buy an ice cream, this time a Streets version on a stick. Everyone and everything was closed. It was hot. After a stop at a huge Ipercoop for some groceries we made contact with our hostess and found our way to the apartment. We are out of the city centre in a reasonably quiet area. The house rules state there will be Silence between 14:00 & 16:00 and between 22:00 & 08:00. We hope everyone else obeys the rules.

And so we settle down in our new apartment for the next three nights.

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Photos

Matera
Looking across at Matera from the National Park

Matera
Castello above the town.

Matera
Cave houses in the National Park

Lecce
Entrance way to the old town.