The Road to Otranto, Italy

Ruins on an island along the coastal highway running south of Maratea.

The morning started out about 7:30 when someone's car alarm went off, continuing for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality it might only have been a few minutes. Cecil was excited to get on his way, as he often is when traveling, and had us all packed up to go before 8:30. I am much slower, but pushed to finish my coffee and notes and get ready so he didn't leave without me!
It was a much longer day than we'd anticipated. We left Maratea around 9am, and still didn't arrive in Ontranto until close to 6pm. The day was great though! Although there was lots of driving, there were also lots of sights to see. We headed down the coastline to the south, then cut across the mountains, and made our way to the gulf.

Beautiful blue waters along the coast at Amendolara, Italy.

The water on the gulf was amazing, the blues and turquoise colors, melding together in the most brilliant shades! The mountains in the background only added to the beauty. We stopped at a little town just past Sabari, and had a drink by the water. We walked the beach for a bit, with the intent of stopping for a lunch of leftovers, but as we drove along, we headed away from the water.  The idea of stopping to eat inland seemed a waste with so much beautiful scenery behind us. We continued on instead, seeing more agricultural land than we could imagine.

Some of the miles and miles of fig trees along our travels.

Taranto was a vast seaport, but the smell in the area was quite putrid to those of us who are accustomed to the acres and acres of open farmland that we are usually surrounded by. I don't know if it was the oil refinery or the steel works. The seaport colors were just as beautiful, but the industry took away from it all somehow.
We continued to meander along until Lecce, where we ventured off the busier roads finding our way to San Caldalto. Once there, it didn't take too long before we decided that rather than stop there, we might as well make our way down to Otranto.

Our first Otranto sunset upon arriving at Serra degli Alimini 1

The last leg of the journey was a cacophony of frustration, as the RCI address and directions left us in the center of Otranto, with no resort in sight. We finally pulled off and went into a small cafe where fortunately a young lady there spoke enough English to help us to know that the resort was about 10 kms back.
We finally found our way, and gratefully, they let us check in one day early, as things are slow. We checked into a cute little two bedroom apartment, with no living room, but that was okay.
It was actually quite a bit nicer than the Maratea accommodations, although parking is more challenging. Wifi was free, power included, there were lots of dishes.  Best of all we were only 100 meters from the sea.
After check-in we checked out the sunset at the beach enjoying the view across the Adriatic, and imagining the sites of Greece across the water. 
Later, after a couple of drinks at the little bar we called it a night.  It was an early one, but after a long day we headed to bed with full intentions of getting up to enjoy the sunrise in the morning.