Italy - someone is missing

Alberobello - details further below.

We have travelled to Italy many times before but were keen to spend some time in the Puglia region before crossing the Adria to Albania.

After visiting the Italian Islands Elba, Sardinia, Vulcano, Lipari, Panarea, Stromboli and Sicily, we crossed to mainland Italy and sailed along the Calabrian and Basilicata coast. Our first stop was Roccella Ionica (it took us 6 hours ). We anchored in front of the Castello.

We sailed 8+ hours from Rocella Ionica to:

Le Castella / Calabria

We anchored again in front of a castle, this time the fortress of Le Castella. The fortress was probably a military outpost and its construction dates back to around the 4th and 3rd century BC. It is very well preserved. It was incredible to have this place to ourselves. The colours were just amazing.

A man's home is his castle? .. or boat?

Drinking a Pistacchio Cremoncello di Sicilia enjoying the great taste and view!

The smell of fresh bred... wonderful ...and what a friendly Italian lady.

We waited for the bred to come out of the oven then went back on the boat for breakfast with views.

OUPS....unfortunately our anchor chain got stuck around rocks and the anchor in between them (in 6m depth). We tried a lot of ways but were unable to dislodge it. We had to ask friendly fishermen for help. One of them jumped into the freezing cold water with diving gear to free the anchor. We gladly paid them for their efforts. Next stops were anchorages at Villaggio Volvito (in front of a paddock full of cows with bells) and Leuca.

Leuca

Santa Maria di Leuca was an unexpected lovely place. White low raise buildings and great food. We anchored outside the marina.

We decided to explore the Grottos with our dinghy. The colours of the Grottos near Leuca were stunning. Below are entries to various caves and a short video at the end.

Come and join us for a ride into one of the caves (click play video below)

Otranto

We anchored in Otranto, another typical coastal town in southern Italy’s Apulia region.

It’s home to the 15th-century Aragonese Castle and

the Cathedral of Otranto (Scull Cathedral)

Behind the alter of the side chapel are skulls and bones of 813 martyrs who died for their faith in 1480.

128 Ottoman ships landed on the shores of Otranto to invade Italy. An army of 20,000 Ottoman Turks killed 12,000 babies and adult men and 5,000 women and children were sold into slavery.

The 813 men, led by the archbishop, initially survived by hiding in the Crypt of the Cathedral. However, soon after they were discovered, they were given the option to convert to Islam or to die. They all refused and were beheaded. The remains of them can be seen behind the altar! It is a strange feeling.... all of them looking at you through the glass....

We sailed for 8 hours from Otranto to Brindisi. The water was calm and I was able to cook a meal and pass some time while we sailed/cruised. I browned a filet, added spices and a marinade, wrapped it with smoked ham and prunes and baked it in the oven. The vegetables were everything we had in the fridge plus a few left over pasta. I stir fried it with some garlic, onion, ginger, honey and added soya & sweet chilli sauce. We ate while the autopilot did all the work (with our supervision of course).

Brindisi

We decided to dock on a wall in the centre of Brindisi. To dock on the "wall" is free and you can also connect to water (thank you Brindisi). During the day/afternoon it is quiet, then getting lively in the evening.

Being docked next to the restaurants meant that we had no privacy at all. It was, however, a nice change and also entertaining. Many people took photos or selfies in front of our boat or asked us to take one of them. Here an example.

We changed from the Brindisi docking wall in the city to the Marina di Brindisi for our yearly Yanmar motor service. Unfortunately, they found some water in the oil for the sail drive and the boat needed to be lifted out of the water to fix the problem. We also had to wait for spare parts for our boat, then spare parts for their broken boat travel lift. We ended up staying 9 nights in the Marina.... and were getting a little frustrated having to wait and being on standby.

That said, staying at the Marina di Brindisi was not that bad!

We hired a car for 3 days and did some daytrips to the south and north of Brindisi.

Some impressions below:

Lecce

"Cartapesta / Paper mâché is an artistic craftsmanship in Lecce (traced back to seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) and reproduced symbolic figures of noble and ordinary people. The art can still be seen in the city and you can watch them do it.

Gallipoli

The Italian Gallipoli is not as famous as its Turkish namesake but is still very pretty.

There were many stands with natural sponges apparently good for everything from cleaning, to make up application, to body peeling.

Apart from sponges there were lovely restaurants, shops and even 2 Christmas shops which are open all year around !!!!!

We also went for a walk along the beach (an hour south of Brindisi).

The next day we drove to the North of Brindisi. We got up at 6 am again to be there well before it gets too busy and too hot.

Alberobello

The town is known for its trulli (whitewashed stone huts with conical roofs). The first records of trulli being built in Puglia date from around the 14th century. The trulli of Alberobello have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996.

One of the original houses was open. The owner told us it was his grandfather's.

There is a long marble stair with romantic phrases written on the steps and red hearts. We took a photo from the top part of the stairs.

We enjoyed the trulli houses even more during our drive from Alberello to Puttignano. They looked lovely in their natural surrounding eg. in fields, surrounded by olive trees or poppy flowers. We drove on winding roads past big farms, simple houses to very luxury mansions but built in the traditional style with the iconic cone-shaped roofs.

Puttignano

We decided to visit the Grotta del Trullo which is quite small. It is the only cave protected by a trullo. You enter the Grotto through the original hole by which the cave was accidently discovered.

It was very crowed when we arrived and lots of local police standing around. We nearly did not go in but checked it out anyway. There were 2 outside events on but we were the only ones visiting the Grotto (others must have been put off seeing the crowds)! To have this grotto all to ourselves made it extra special.

The first Pic below is obviously not taken by us (it is from the Grottos web page), but it just shows the set up well.

Beautiful stalagmites and stalactites.

Locorotondo, Martina Franca and Ostuni was next on our program

Ostuni is also called "the white city"

The last day of our rental car brought us to Monopoli and Bari.

Monopoli

Wallpaper in a toilet.

Italy has beautiful churches (all so different) and we could do a blog just on them...

The Cathedral in Monopoli (Basilica of the Madonna della Madia) is stunning and built on 2 levels (with an altar and benches on each level). Below a few pics of the ground level.

We also walked past the carved purgatory church door (see pic below), which belongs to the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Suffragio, also known as La Chiesa del Purgatorio, This church is located right beside the much grander Basilica of the Madonna della Madia.

The macabre symbols of death on the church door and the displayed mummies of priests inside the church are meant to reaffirm the concept of purgatory. Built toward the end of the 17th century, the unassuming structure lacks the majesty of the cathedral next door, but is eye-catching nevertheless. Inside the church are the remains of eight embalmed founding members of the church and local administrators. They are displayed standing up behind glass, dressed in black robes bordered by the red fiery flames of purgatory. The ninth mummy is the body of Plautilla Indelli, dressed in a white frilly dress, the only embalmed girl in Puglia. We could not find out much information about her.

The Church is thought to be a “place of cleansing” for those who have sinned and not yet received full forgiveness for their acts.

Basilica di San Nicola in Bari looked very plain and modest on the outside but the inside was again different. The Sunday mess was in progress when we arrived.

Well, we are starting to get paranoid. We were checked again by the Guardia di Finanza, this time for a full hour. With our dual nationalities we have no issue staying in the EU, however the boat (for tax reasons) can only remain in Italy for 18 months. We are not sure if this applies to all EU countries. To be on the safe side we decided to reset the clock (same as we did in Gibraltar).

Once the weather looks good, we will cross to Albania (non EU).

Writing the blog (whenever we have good internet connection).

In Italian Restaurants the dishes are separated into different categories: Antipasto, Primo/Primi, Secondo/Secondi, Contorno/Contorni, and Dolce ( Appetizers/Snacks, First Course, Second Course, Vegetables/Sides, and Dessert. The Italian menu seems designed so that you choose dishes from various categories rather than only one. For lunch you will have a plate of pasta (a primo), followed by the next plate (a secondo) which will have a meat or fish on it. After the meat comes the salad or vegetables (contorno). Then dessert. Below is very fitting:

🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦Goodbye Gelato - it will be good to be away from this temptation. 🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦

🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦

......our last night before leaving Brindisi... spending it in a shipyard hanging in the travel lift belts ...... another castello in the background. We are planning to leave early tomorrow morning. Btw our heading stated "someone is missing" ,,, will explain in next blog who and why (if you have not already worked it out).

Next stop Albania

❤️ Sending our love to you our families and friends ❤️

🍕 Thanks for being part of our adventure 🍝

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