Day 22. Saved by Pizza

Independent travel has many advantages, but things don’t always go exactly to plan. Today we planned to drive from the back of the knee of Italy (Abruzzo) to the top of the heel of the boot (Puglia). That should take 3-4 hours. If you look carefully at a map of Italy there is a section above the heel, that some refer to as the spur. This section includes a national park and some wonderful coastal vistas. So why not add that little section to our itinerary, we reasoned – it can’t be that far.

Unfortunately, it was a very slow and winding road for 200 km. It meant our 3-4 hours of driving became about 8 hours. We did see a couple of beautiful coastal cities (Peschici and Vieste) but Italy is not big on lookouts or picnic areas so there were not many opportunities to stop and take in the view.

Along the way we also saw some of Italy’s seedier side. Highway prostitutes flaunting their scantily clothed bodies at midday, on a road where cars are doing at least 110km/h, defies explanation and logic. Poker machines and their male patrons next to the grotty toilets in petrol station don’t make for a pleasant stop. Piles of garbage strewn along the beaches and visual pollution on a grand scale are not endearing.

We thought things had improved when, after winding around narrow roads for hours, our Navlady led us onto a different road. It looked wide and straight and we picked up a bit of speed until a road sign indicated that the road was narrowing. Suddenly we hit a section of unfinished road covered with a type of very coarse road base basically made up of huge rocks and boulders. Five kilometres driving over that type of surface could have easily penetrated our delicate French tyres. Finally we came to the end and another sign indicated that the road was closed. We proceeded hesitantly and unexpectedly found that this section of the road was actually finished. We traveled happily for the next 10kms until suddenly without warning the road turned into a virtual goat track. Eventually we returned to a reasonable road and were able to make some good progress towards our destination.

 

Despite the set backs and the long day in the car, the day was saved by two terrific pizzas when we arrived in Locorotondo. Richard had a white pizza – cheese, sausage and cabbage (no tomato). Bellisimo! Wendy had a bread pizza – base cooked then drizzled with local olive oil and sprinkled with salt before cherry tomatoes, slices of mozzarella cheese and basil added. Equisito