Gallipoli to Santa Maria di Leuca

May 29, 2023

Today’s destination is the southernmost tip of Italy where the Ionian and the Adriatic Seas meet. From there, we hang a left and begin heading north.

As usual though, the first order of business was to fuel up. We strolled down to the street to where the breakfasts for this B&B are held and entered through a small door to find a beautiful courtyard and garden. The back stone wall was covered in jasmine and its light perfume filled the air. We filled our plates with the usual things and we ate until we could eat no more.

Courtyard garden where breakfast was served.

All the breakfast a couple of hungry cyclist needs... almost.

Before leaving Gallipoli, I wanted to check out an underground olive oil mill but sadly, the mill museum did not open until 10am. In any case, it's an interesting chapter in Gallipolli’s history and one worth mentioning.

Olive trees cover the Salento peninsula of the Puglia and have done so for the past 5000 years. They produce some wonderful olive oils for consumption these days (40% of Italy’s olive oil comes from here) but between the 16th and 19th centuries, olive oil was used for burning in lamps. Puglian olive oil was favored because it burned clean; it did not leave a black sooty deposit on the lamp glass. The olives were dumped through openings in the street and went directly into a vat below. There, animals were used to rotate a large grinding stone to crush the olives. Gallipoli has about 35 underground mills and supplied lamp oil right across Italy and Europe to the tune of 26 shiploads per day. This all came to an end when electricity was invented.

There is much to explore in Gallipoli and we only touched the surface. As we cruised slowly south, we kept stopping to look back and enjoy the views.

The ride south to Leuca was mostly along the coastline past many gorgeous beaches. The northwest breeze was at our backs while we rode past pine forests, rocky shorelines, sandy beaches and sand dunes covered in shrubs and flowers.

The towers and pill boxes we saw yesterday continued right down the Salento peninsula. They were all in different states of repair.

What a treat.. the roads had a some stable sections.

Near Nardo, we came upon an old ship that had Arabic writing on the side of the upper deck. Something told me this was a ship that brought migrants to Italy although I could not confirm this. The stats are that 46,650 migrants have landed on Italy’s shores this year, as of May. It is a staggering number. It gave me chills to think of the situation that drives people to put their entire family’s lives on the line to make this crossing.

The road surfaces were generally terrible today. My back tire took one too many hits and succumbed eventually. David got to work immediately. There was nothing obvious in the tire itself so he inflated the inner tube and found that the tube itself had ruptured near the valve stem. This probably was the result of a direct blow to the area that stressed the valve enough to tear it from the tube. Pretty weird stuff. The wheel builder had assured David that a seating ring was not needed on these particular rims but this seems to counter that argument. Eventually, the repair was made and we were back on the road. One spare inner tube remains.

We stopped at this beach for lunch and an ice cream bar.

The coastline approaching Leuca is dotted with caves and grotto which were inhabited as far back as Paleolithic times before the Mediterranean sea formed. Boat tours along the coastline are popular but I think a kayak would be even better. Some of the grottos are accessible on foot.

Leuca (pronounced Lay-ew-ka), a small town of 2000 residents, sits at the far tip of Italy’s heel between Punta Meliso and Punta Ristola. It marks the end of the Apulian aqueduct that delivers drinking water to over 258 cities and communities in the Puglia region, which is river-less. The 2189 km long aqueduct was one of the largest construction projects undertaken in Italy in the first half of the 20th century. It's construction started in 1906 and it was completed in 1946. One can’t underestimate the importance this has had on growth in this region.

When we arrived in Leuca, we checked in with our host. Christian was home to welcome us and made a few recommendations for dinner. After a rest and cleanup we strolled to town and settled in at an outdoor cafe near the church.

This church was completed the year we were born.

The small restaurant opened at 7:00 pm and we were seated next to a couple from Slovenia. This the first time on the trip someone else was seated before us 😄! We began to chat with the waitress who was shy to speak any English, but fortunately the Slovenian couple helped out as they spoke English and Italian. They were staying in Lecce tonight and departed after sharing an appetizer of tuna tatake. We had been chatting about our respective trips and about Primož Roglič, Slovenia’s pride, who just won the Giro d’Italia two days ago. As they got up to leave, the woman gave me her business card and invited us to visit them in Slovenia. Hmmm... they just might have planted a seed for our next tour.

We ordered an appetizer and a simple salad to share and then seafood pasta dishes as our main courses. Both were excellent. We shared a tiramisu for dessert but it disappeared so fast there is no photo.

We both love listening to music at home but here in Europe, the standard fare is usually some sort of fabricated dance beat. It’s awful stuff, noise pollution really. So, naturally, our ears and eyes lit up it when they started playing Norah Jones tunes. Did they do it for us? I don’t think so, but we are starved for good music and we loved hearing ‘Come Away With Me’ and ‘Sunrise’ as we ate dessert and sipped on our cotaldo coffees.

When our waitress brought the bill, she explained that our B&B had taken 10 euro off the bill. We looked up and saw Christian who had been hanging out all the while with a friend (the restaurant owner) at a nearby table. We were blown away by his kindness and we thanked him profusely for his generosity.

We strolled home to the B&B, our hearts filled with gratitude for the kindness of strangers, under the moonlit sky.

Appetizer with burrata, sundried tomato bruschetta and capicollo.

Maccheroni with prawns, shrimp, polpo and fish.

Fresh salad of radicchio, lettuce and tomato.

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Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 569 km (353 miles)

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Anne AnastasiouThank goodness David knows how to maintain your bikes so well. A necessary skill on those road surfaces!
I love the sound of kayaking that coast! Interestingly Slovenia is on our bucket list. It's supposed to have good walking.
So nice to see the sunny days after your wet start. Thanks for sharing.
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1 year ago

ann and steve maher-wearyThis is a trip we would love to do, thanks for sharing your travels.
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1 year ago

Anne MathersTo ann and steve maher-wearyPut it in your list, for sure. Beware though, the mountains of Basilicata are the real deal. No named cols there, but they sure deserve to be signed and named. We cyclist love our col photos!
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1 year ago

Anne MathersTo Anne AnastasiouHis mechanical expertise is top notch, pro all the way. I stand back and observe. And feel very fortunate!
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1 year ago