Andre and Wendy

15,900 steps

240 kms driven today, The car said we had 913kms before empty when we started.

Started today with about a 4KM walk to downtown Bari to pick up our rental car that we will use the visit Puglia area for 1 week. We read over and over that to really see the area you should have a rental car.

We have a brand new red MG hybrid, with so many bells and whistles we are not sure what everything is. It is bigger than I wanted, but nice to drive. Now if we could just figure out the knocking sound coming from the back right we would be happy, hoping it is just something to do with the car charging. Also weird about how many kms we have before time to fill up, it seems to change a lot. Oh well we will hopefully sort it out in a week.

Our next 2 nights we will be spending in Otranto, which is about 200KM south of Bari. We stay on the highway for part of the time, then we move on to follow the shore road which is spectacular when we got to Lecce. We stop a few times but don't want to wander too far with all our stuff in the car. Lots of pullouts for views.

We are staying at a Bed and Breakfast little hotel type place with I think 5 rooms. We have spectacular sea views from our balcony. Free parking right outside which is a bonus. No idea what it would be like in the summer as there is a nice beach right in front. We can see by looking around that it must be crazy here in high season, but it is a ghost town right now. The person that looks after our B&B sends us a list of restaurants that are actually open right now.

We find the grocery store up the road and have them make us a couple of sandwiches for takeaway for a picnic on the beach. A chocolate bar and some oranges and we are good. We eat at the beach right below our B&B.

Decide we should go for a drive to explore a little more further South. A few old towers on the side of the road by the cliffs that add to the beauty. Also lots of rock walls. It is a twisty road that we see a few motorcycles out having fun, they come up on you fast and drive fast. It is easy driving, roads are quite wide and hardly anyone is on them.

We don't drive very far, but spend a couple of hours with some breaks to get out for small walks. We are still figuring out the parking, and as of April 1 you are supposed to pay at some places, but I can't imagine they are enforcing this, when we park in a spot that holds 50 cars we have been the only ones.

Back home and we stop at the grocery store again to pick up some wine and chips, they go well together. Have a drink on the balcony then head off for supper.

The closest restaurant open is a little less than 1 km from our place. There is one other table already there, and one other table arrives before we leave. This restaurant with its outdoor dining seats 100, it must be crazy in the summer! The views are spectacular, but we choose to eat inside as it is starting to get cool out.

Supper was delicious, we started splitting a brochetta appetizer which had eggplant, cheese, and something else maybe some kind of tomato, delicious. Andre had ravioli, and I had their house spaghetti with anchovies, again both delicious. Walked home by the water again, it would be a little spooky by yourself as there are no lights on in the houses. It really is a ghost town.

Looking forward to tomorrow and some more exploring