Brindisi to Lecce

October 28, 2024

another nice day on the road

Today we had breakfast at our hotel. It was a nice change to have a larger meal with eggs and potatoes to start the day. We filled our water bottles at the restaurant and were on our way to Lecce by 10 o`clock.

After a false start down a dead end alley, we zig zagged along a few side streets until we joined an artery road leading out of Brindisi. After a couple of kilometres of the rough no shoulder road surface, we happily turned off onto a much quieter SP88. The area was very rural and full of well plowed empty fields. We past a large thermoelectric plant and then headed out to the coast and to the town of Casalabate. Here we had a coffee and were amazed at how quiet the area was. Most of the beach front houses seemed closed up for the season.

Not sure of the crop but tilling the ground the old way caught my eye.

The birds on the left were waiting patiently for the ground to be tilled by the tractor to provide an easy meal.

The large and almost empty boardwalk at Casalabate. In the distance is Torre Specchiolla erected in the sixteenth century to defend the Salento peninsula against the attacks of the Turks from the sea.

A nicely done cycle path along the waterfront through town. The colour matches the blue of the ocean!

Casalabate was the only town we went through today before turning inland and onto another car free Strata Provinciale road that would take us right to Lecce. The roads had wide shoulders and smooth surfaces allowing us speed along and arrive in Lecce well before our BnB check in time.

Leaving the coast, there were often old vacant looking buildings amidst stands of olive trees.

Quiet roads and one of the very few signs recognizing cyclists that we have seen!

First time we have ever seen a cactus farm. A huge field of nothing but Prickly Pear cacti. It's hard to tell from the picture, but they were all growing in straight rows.

Lecce has a older large centre area that we had difficulty navigating as the road network around it is on an irregular pattern. The car traffic also made our navigation more difficult so when we stumbled upon marked bike lanes, we just took them as far as they went toward the middle of the city. Eventually we found Villa Comunale, a large park on the edge of old Lecce. The attractive city park occupies an area of three hectares. From here we could easily enter the tourist focused area where our BnB was located for the night.

The Villa Comunale is an Italian garden, with a large central circular open space and geometric flowerbeds bordered by low concrete curbs.

The afternoon sun on the extensive detail of The Basilica of Santa Croce really catches your eye.

Large central rose window of Romanesque inspiration.

The Roman amphitheater of Lecce dates back to the second century and is an Italian national monument of Roman times located in Piazza Sant'Oronzo. Discovered in the early 1900`s only one third is of the arena is viable.

We had a late lunch at a cafe beside Piazza Sant`Oronzo as we could not take possession of our nearby room until 5 pm. We are in Lecce tomorrow as well so we will be able to explore it much more then.

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Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 278 km (173 miles)

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