The last days of Altomonte

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The following day Ted and I decided to visit the beach. Since we were half way between the Ionian sea and the Tyrhynnian sea, we chose the former. The newest addition to the olive farm were Germans who told us the Ionian sea had sandy beaches and you could walk out a far ways into the ocean before it dropped off. The other side had a rockier beach and a steeper drop-off. We got close to the actual beach side spot that had been recommended to us, but couldn't find that exact place. But we did find, for 6E/person was a nice little beach, complete with deck chairs and sunbrella table. It was heavenly! I could have stayed all week, just roasting myself like a pig on a spit, turning as needed.....Ted was the only person on the beach with shorts to his knees and occasionally wearing his shirt. The men do wear speedos, regardless of shape and this is the only place I saw where the women wore suits that didn't fit their body shape. But the sun was out, not too hot, not too cold, a nice breeze....perfetto!!
After that experience, we decided to see what the other side of Italy looked like and headed west. The road we took climbed high up into the mountains, over twisting, turning roads that were wide enough for 2 vespas, not two cars.....Ted drove like a Roman and I held on, with my foot pressed to the invisible right-side brake! It took us so long to get there, that we decided we didn't have time to go to the beach before we had to head back! But the sights we saw were amazing....all these small villages of 300-400 people living up high in the mountains with the houses, castles, churches having their backs built into solid rock.....and then descending down steep, twisty narrow roads to the beach...
I was glad we were leaving for Rome again soon. I had gotten my fill of overly quiet days and nights listening to the "neighbors" through too-thin walls!!

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