Capo Santa Maria Di Leuca, Italy 2018 🇮🇹

Date: 21st August 2018

Travelled: 130 kilometres from Grottaglie to Capo Sta Maria Di Leuca, both in Italy.

Visited: Capo Sta Maria Di Leuca in Puglia.

Stayed: Capo Sta Maria Di Leuca sosta, €20 all services. N39.80008, E18.36270

Every now and then you don’t have a good night in a sosta. Last night in Grottaglie was one of those. The Italians don’t come out for dinner until 8-9pm, we normally go to bed not long after that time. As it’s festival time our car-park fills to capacity, but the cars just keep on coming. Then there’s the parking attendent trying to stop people from parking in the driveways, lots of yelling and general carrying on. On the other hand it was a free stop.

So it was a late start this morning, we have some coffee and fruit and continue east.

The morning traffic is light but the goat crossings are busy.

Someone is living the dream. The landscape is very flat and quite barren, from a couple of kilometres away it looks like an old castle, but up close someone has built a new castle.

There are some good renovation possibilities in Sava.

The road east to Gallipoli is a series of bottlenecks in the towns and villages. Where not in a hurry so it’s not a problem. But the road surfaces in the villages are worse than you can imagine. Huge unfilled potholes and uneven surfaces mean there is no relaxing.

We take the turn for Gallipoli just for its name as much as anything else. It’s a small touristy sea port in southern Puglia. We cannot find a parking spot, so we find a tree with some shade and have a late lunch.

By mid-afternoon we arrive in Capo Sta Maria di Leuca. The south eastern tip of Italy, so for our 2018 adventures everywhere from here is heading home.

It looks a pretty town, but the roads are narrow so we turn around and find a parking spot at the sosta near the marina. We get a spot in the shade under a tree and quickly decide we have had enough for today. A little nap, followed by a swim seem in order.