Italian Shores

Castro, Italy is a small marina village of 3,000 people built on the hill side by the sea.  It is beautiful.  This is the view from our apartment.  We traveled to several areas, while maintaining a base in Castro.

 

This is Gallipoli. Its a mid-sized town located  almost at the end of the Italy's heel along the Ionian Sea. It very lively and very full of people.  So we headed up the west coast to look for beaches and sea side villages. One after another lines the sea shore.  The Italians don't need sandy beaches-they will sit, and lay, and even bring their lawn chairs on the rocky edges of the sea.

Santa Cesarea Terme is located on the eastern coastline of the region of Puglia along the Adriatic Sea. Beautiful village but I think it only exists for the bus loads of old people who stop there to admire the shoreline, which is spectacular.  The young people are riding bikes up and down the coast.  This made us tired just thinking about peddling up and down the hills of Italy.

By now, you must be thinking that these towns all look alike.  We did at first.  But after visiting each, they have their own vibe, architecture and outstanding features.  This is a photo of Otranto.  They have a shopping street that is really fun, an old castle and a long walking plaza along the shore that lets you enjoy the crashing waves from a number of fine restaurants. It was October when we were there and its getting chilly. We brought swimsuits and beach shoes thinking we would get in the water....silly us.  The best part was there were no crowds. 

Along the eastern coast of Puglia, there are these tower located periodically.  There were signs that described what they were in Italian...which didn't help us since we don't read or speak Italian.  We think they are part of the historical navigation system for the coastline.  Like lighthouses.