We’re leaving Taranto behind and driving along the coast all the way around the heel of the boot to Lecce. What should have taken around 1.5 hours took the entire day. We decided on the detour to see what the coast looked like. We drove through industrial parks, farmland, and numerous beach towns and villages to discover that.
The first stop is Gallipoli, with its old town on what could easily be mistaken for an island. The short and narrow piece of land connecting it to the mainland could easily be mistaken for a bridge. The old town can be traversed in minutes on foot and offers a lot of narrow little alleys that are quite picturesque if you’re willing to walk off the main tourist path (and you definitely should). Still, like Tuscan towns are optimized for visitors doing wine tasting, Gallipoli is optimized for going to the beach and eating seafood while looking at the ocean. I’m sure there are plenty of water excursions available, too.
After Gallipoli, we got back on the road and headed to Capo Santa Maria di Leuca, the very tip of the boot's heel. The road there ran through a long series of beach towns, their beaches alternating between sandy and rocky. The deep blue waters of the Mediterranean are almost calling us to take a dip and enjoy the warm weather (32°C).
Visiting the Cape itself is a quick affair. Once you’ve been on the promontory and looked at where the Adriatic and the Ionian Seas meet and taken a couple of pictures of the surroundings, including the lighthouse, you’re pretty much done. It’s a quick stop for us, but we did stop at the conveniently located restaurant for a coffee, water, and an obligatory bathroom break. We’ve been enjoying the sights of the coast for hours, and a quick reset was warranted before driving onto the other side of the peninsula.
Last stop on our grand tour of the boot heel is Otranto, another cute little town with a small old town that’s worth walking through. This last stretch of coast between Leuca and Otranto is probably the most beautiful and unique we’ve encountered on our drive. The landscape is arid, with rock, yellowed herbs, and almost black shrubbery, yet lush green on the horizon and the deep blues of the sea to the right.
Otranto, like Gallipoli, is ideal for a quick walk and a dip in the sea. The old town is perched atop a rocky outcrop and offers sweeping views of its bay and the Mediterranean. The small alleys are filled with white-walled houses that make most of that part of the city picture-perfect. Its sandy beach is also very inviting if you like beach days.
Overall, it’s not the towns we’ve visited so much as the journey to them that made the day, slowly making our way through the different landscapes of the region. We arrived in Lecce minutes before sunset. If there is one thing you learn quickly when you travel, it is to reserve judgment on a town until you’ve seen it in the daytime. Every city looks gloomier when you first enter it at night, and Lecce is no exception.
We had dinner reservations at 21:00. With some time to spare, we decided to stop at Caffè Letterario for the traditional Aperol Spritz apéro. If Lecce turns out to be a town with nothing interesting to do, the Caffè Letterario will be able to keep us well lubricated. Located near the Università del Salento, it offers a wide variety of cocktails at excellent prices, the same for the aperotivo.
Diner was at 63 Osteria Contemporanea. As much as we had mainly seafood in the past week or so, 63 focuses on the land part—croutons with peppers and cheese, croutons with pork cheek, pasta with meat. There’s not a fish in sight.
