It was supposed to be a 31km day, but a brief study of the route on Google revealed some economies of effort. Often such short cuts mean highways, but not today, as I managed to find obscure laneways not dissimilar to the real thing. It has become apparent that the route from Lecce to Otranto is less about recreating a path similar to what pilgrims of old would have taken, and more about creating a self guided walk to sundry historic features that are vaguely along the way.
After all the olive trees, the destination was quite special. Otranto is dominated by its castle – which has a UNESCO designation, and overwhelmed by restaurants to cater to the hordes that come to see it. As it’s the off season, it’s quite likely that there are more restaurants than tourists. It didn’t help that we decided to cook in. The apartment we booked over-looked the castle, and the off season also meant that Susan and Sam had been enjoying the roof top patio while I was out galavanting around the olive groves.
2saunter 