Kiwi Roaming

B&B breakfast was lovely, we have really enjoyed eating yoghurt, fruit and pastries each morning. We’ve mixed up eating in the breakfast room with eating on the rooftop deck while it’s in shade. The staff are friendly and ask us repeatedly whether we want a coffee.

Another day exploring a lovely Italian town, Gallipoli’s old town was built in the 3rd, 6th and 16th centuries on a limestone island with the new town (where we were staying) connected by a road now, which would have once been a drawbridge. The old town of Gallipoli is quite small and clearly in the process of being gentrified with some streets now in holiday apartments with newly rendered walls, double glazing etc. Others run down or in the process of renovation. We enjoyed a wander through the streets, looking at the local craft shops and the tat places alongside restaurants and bars.

We visited the former Mercato which had been converted into a space with restaurants and shops, it’s also adjacent to the castle so an impressive setting. I read the main industry here was once wine but is now fishing and tourism which includes new marina infrastructure which is easily accessible from the town. It got very very hot after lunch so we popped into a bar to cool down, had a gelato, beer/wine and people watched for a while.

That evening we headed back to the beach, this time also armed with a picnic of prosciutto, cheese and bread rolls. Unlike in the evenings the beach was pretty chocker during the day. Sadly the wind during the day had churned up sea grass so the very shallow water was mucky but it cleared up as we headed out further and enjoyed another lovely swim. I took my phone in for a few pics of the town from the sea with the beautiful colours of the sunsetting. There was dense black cloud meaning we didn’t get the same spectacular experience as the first evening but still magical.

As we headed back to our room we intersected with a massive procession of priests and nuns followed by a marching band, again the town was chocker with people everywhere and carparks full.

Beach club day

The trains don’t seem to be running in and out of Gallipoli at the moment and I didn’t fancy another long bus ride so instead of visiting other towns in the area we decided to spend our second to last full day in Italy at a beach club / Lido. When we checked in the hotel had suggested deals at a couple of places so we had a convo on WhatsApp and chose Lido Bikini Beach which cost us €30 for 2 sunbeds, an umbrella and transfers to/from our B&B – paid at the Lido when we arrived.

The Lido is about 5km from where we are staying and is one of many along the 20km shore of Baia Verde, which also has publicly accessible areas. We got picked up about 1pm and stayed until 6pm. The bay is amazing, the beach is sandy and clean, the sea oh so warm and clear also. As it comes into the shore the waves do break so we needed to walk / swim out further for calmer ocean. There were hundreds if not thousands of people swimming but in front of our Lido it wasn’t crowded at all. There is a lifeguard at every Lido and a row of buoys in front denoting the safe to swim area, but it only just got over our heads by the buoys so we often went much further than this.

The google reviews had indicated all of these Lido’s are a rip off but we found this one pretty much in line with the town prices food and drink wise, we enjoyed a panini and an octopus salad in the restaurant mid afternoon. So overall didn’t spend much. Three fabulous swims, lots of sunbathing later we jumped back in the shuttle and returned to the B&B.

We’d passed a Sicilian cannoli place on the Main Street earlier so after our showers and change we headed there for a late dinner again, it was lovely eating out in the street and watching the chaos. Yummy yummy food and €4.90 Aperol Sprits here as well – to be fair the majority of customers were buying these to either drink in or take away, such a great price.

Then back to pack and watch the second half of Portugal v Croatia. The street noise continued until 3am so we didn’t get the best nights sleep to be fair.