[2016]
[Friday 23 September 2016]
Apulia, Lecce and Vieste - Undiscovered Italy
Palace Hotel, Vieste
DAY 6
VIESTE[i]
Today you have a free day to explore or relax as you wish. Beach towels are available from reception at the cost of €3.
- [i] The original information on the website was:
-
- Vieste, almost an apparition, is a beautiful village of white flat-roofed low buildings, dominated by its simple 13th century cathedral. Originally Phoenician, but as you amble through its haphazard maze of alleyways, surrounded by hallmarks of Apulia’s historical pedigree, you are hard pushed to decide where in the world you are; it really is a uniquely fascinating place.
Today is a free day to just relax, bury your head in a good book, perhaps enjoy a leisurely lunch of succulent local seafood or just wander through one of Italy’s most attractive coastal towns.
Because today was Janet’s day for restriction-free eating, she’d set the alarm clock for 6.30am. I got up, shaved and showered… The folding door of the shower creaked very loudly indeed when opening and closing, and the wide, fixed shower head wasn’t ideal (I prefer a removable one with a hose for rinsing my bum), but I didn’t find the cubicle unduly claustrophobic. The anti-slip ridges in the shower tray hurt my sensitive feet somewhat. I joined
Janet, who’d already gone down to the basement dining room for breakfast. As far as hot food was concerned there was no bacon, just fried eggs that looked like they were fake ones made of rubber. At 9am the people who’d opted for the boat trip met in the lobby.… Paola led the way across the road (Via Santa Maria di Merino), turning left, then right along Lungomare Amerigo Vespucci. This overlooks, not the sea as the name suggests, but the harbour. Near its end we went down a few steps, crossed the harbour-side car park, and boarded the waiting boat, reserved just for our party. Paola introduced our captain, whose name I’ve forgotten, and we set off.
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:10:06
Boat trip: boarding the boat
There was commentary by Paola over a loudspeaker during the trip, of where we were, what was there,
etc. We left the harbour and passed between two moles beyond its north end. The eastern one of these moles extends from an islet, Scoglio di Santa Eufemia, on which is built Vieste Lighthouse. Having passed the moles, we turned eastwards, then southwards, then westwards, rounding the eastward-projecting Punta di San Francesco, before paralleling the coastline southwards.
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:14:54
Boat trip: Vieste lighthouse on the islet Scoglio di Santa Eufemia, seen from the north-east
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:15:24
Boat trip
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:15:40
Boat trip: north side of Punta di San Francesco and mediaeval Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:16:24
Boat trip: Vieste lighthouse, seen from the south-southeast
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:16:44
Boat trip: Bastions at the east end of Punta di San Francesco, seen from the south
Right: a trabucco
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:17:32
Boat trip, proceeding westwards: Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:18:40
Boat trip, proceeding westwards: Vieste
During the voyage we passed more than one trabucco, a wooden platform projecting from the rock, equipped with antennae from which fishing nets can be suspended.
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:19:02
Boat trip, proceeding westwards: trabucco
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:19:46
Boat trip, proceeding westwards: Castello Svevo, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:19:58
Boat trip, proceeding westwards: Castello Svevo, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:20:14
Boat trip, about to proceed southwards: 25-metre high monolith Pizzomunno, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:23:16
Boat trip: speeding southwards
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:29:44
Boat trip: coastal tower
(same one, I think, as “Friday 23 September 2016 — 17:50:04”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:32:02
Boat trip: Arco di San Felice; (background:) Torre di San Felice
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:32:34
Boat trip: Arco di San Felice
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:34:02
Boat trip: Arco di San Felice
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:34:28
Boat trip: Arco di San Felice
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:35:50
Boat trip: trabucco
Just beyond Arco di San Felice we started visiting caves,
etc.: Grotta Campana;—
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:36:22
Boat trip: (right:) perhaps Grotta dei Contrabbandieri (“smugglers’ cave”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:36:54
Boat trip: in Grotta Campana (“bell cave”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:37:10
Boat trip: in Grotta Campana (“bell cave”) — under the “bell”
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:37:18
Boat trip: in Grotta Campana (“bell cave”) — looking back to the mouth of the cave
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:37:36
Boat trip: in Grotta Campana (“bell cave”) — leaving the “bell”
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:38:00
Boat trip: Grotta Campana (“bell cave”) — looking back at the mouth of the cave
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:39:22
Boat trip: perhaps a troll, I think, turned to stone, at Testa del Gargano
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:40:52
Boat trip
—Grotta Sfondata, so called because the roof had collapsed and it was open from the top to the bottom;—
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:42:10
Boat trip: in Grotta Sfondata (“broken-down cave”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:42:22
Boat trip: in Grotta Sfondata (“broken-down cave”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:42:36
Boat trip: in Grotta Sfondata (“broken-down cave”) — looking back to the mouth of the cave
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:43:30
Boat trip: Grotta Sfondata (“broken-down cave”) — looking back to the mouth of the cave
—Grotta dei Due Occhi, so called because there are two openings in the roof;—
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:44:18
Boat trip: in Grotta dei Due Occhi (“cave of the two eyes”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:44:26
Boat trip: in Grotta dei Due Occhi (“cave of the two eyes”) — one of the two “eyes”
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:44:34
Boat trip: in Grotta dei Due Occhi (“cave of the two eyes”) — the other of the two “eyes”
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:44:44
Boat trip: in Grotta dei Due Occhi (“cave of the two eyes”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:44:58
Boat trip: in Grotta dei Due Occhi (“cave of the two eyes”) — both “eyes”
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:46:10
Boat trip
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:46:54
Boat trip: Baia di Campi
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:48:38
Boat trip
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:49:32
Boat trip
—Grotta dei Pomodori, with small red objects that looked like tomatoes adhering to the rock just below the water-line, visible when the waves were at their trough (jellyfish at some stage of their development, did Paola say? — not recommended to eat them, or even touch them, anyway!);—
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:50:00
Boat trip: Grotta dei Pomodori (“cave of the tomatoes”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:50:42
Boat trip: Grotta dei Pomodori (“cave of the tomatoes”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:51:22
Boat trip: Grotta dei Pomodori (“cave of the tomatoes”)
Grotta dei Pomodori (“cave of the tomatoes”) — photo from the internet
(I failed to get a sufficiently clear photo.)
—Arco di Portogreco;—
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:54:26
Boat trip: Arco di Portogreco
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:54:50
Boat trip: Arco di Portogreco
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:54:56
Boat trip: Arco di Portogreco
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:55:18
Boat trip: Arco di Portogreco
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:55:46
Boat trip: Arco di Portogreco
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:56:36
Boat trip: Torre di Portogreco
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 09:58:02
Boat trip: Spiaggia di Porto Greco
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:02:30
Boat trip: Pugnochiuso?
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:03:30
Boat trip: Pugnochiuso?
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:06:40
Boat trip
—another cave, perhaps Grotta delle Due Stanze;—
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:08:24
Boat trip: Grotta delle Due Stanze (“cave of the two rooms”)?
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:08:56
Boat trip: Grotta delle Due Stanze (“cave of the two rooms”)?
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:09:12
Boat trip: Grotta delle Due Stanze (“cave of the two rooms”)?
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:10:14
Boat trip: Grotta delle Due Stanze (“cave of the two rooms”)?
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:10:40
Boat trip: Grotta delle Due Stanze (“cave of the two rooms”)?
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:12:04
Boat trip
—and Grotta dei Sogni, a cave with two openings in the cliff.
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:14:12
Boat trip: approaching Grotta dei Sogni (“cave of dreams”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:14:30
Boat trip: Grotta dei Sogni (“cave of dreams”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:14:58
Boat trip: in Grotta dei Sogni (“cave of dreams”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:15:24
Boat trip: in Grotta dei Sogni (“cave of dreams”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:15:48
Boat trip: in Grotta dei Sogni (“cave of dreams”)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:18:02
Boat trip
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:46:10
Boat trip: statue of “S. Francesco da Paola” (1416–1507) on the western mole north of the harbour
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 10:46:10 (detail)
Boat trip: statue of “S. Francesco da Paola” (1416–1507) on the western mole north of the harbour
By the time we got back to Vieste harbour, I was bursting to have a pee; but fortunately there was a small prefabricated building nearby,
Bar del Porto, into which I dashed for relief.
Image from Google Street View, November 2009
Bar del Porto
I bought myself a 40cl glass of beer on tap (€2.00), which was Sardinian
Ichnusa, familiar from our previous holiday. I joined two or three others at a table outside in the warm sunshine. I had another 20cl (€1.50) before I left them (11:47 on the till receipt) and made my way back to the hotel. I was a bit worried that
Janet might be impatiently awaiting my return, but I just found a note saying she was at the hairdresser’s. I went out and turned right into Via Vittorio Veneto, passing the park formed by the triangle of Santa Maria di Merino, Via Vittorio Veneto and Corso Lorenzo Fazzini, and turned right again into Viale XXIV Maggio (the continuation westwards of Corso Lorenzo Fazzini), thinking I might see her; but that didn’t happen, so I went back to the hotel room.
Janet now had “big hair”. She thought the €15 it cost to be very reasonable. We set out then with the intention of looking at the old part of the town. We set out more or less eastwards along Corso Lorenzo Fazzini, but quickly realising that this wouldn’t take us up to the centro storico, we turned right, cut through Via Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour,—
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 12:33:38
Steps in Via Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour up to Via Cesare Battisti
—and resumed our walk going to the left along Via Cesare Battisti. Looking to the right, up one of the side-streets, we caught a glimpse of the castle.
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 12:36:08
Bastion of Castello Svevo beyond Via Tenente Petrone
Just beyond there, were tables and chairs under a canvas awning, overlooking the harbour below, part of the opposite “ristorante pizzeria”
Borgo Antico. I ordered a 40cl glass of beer, but they didn’t have any soft drink that
Janet wanted (e.g. Lemonsoda). So she asked for an Americano, but was told “only
Espresso.” (“Bastards,” she later wrote in her journal.)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 12:39:48
“Maxlrainer
“Since 1636
“Noble beers
“Our owner drinks Maxlreiner”
As soon as I’d finished the beer I paid up (no coperto, just the one item for €4.50, 2¼ times what I’d paid for the same quantity of beer earlier! — bastards!) and we went our way, passing through a barbican into the
centro storico.
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 12:54:38
View from Via Cesare Battisti, over the harbour, of Vieste Lighthouse
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 12:55:20
Barbican, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 12:55:58
Barbican, Vieste
The way to the cathedral, we saw, was up some steps to the right, immediately beyond the barbican; but first we went ahead, looking for somewhere to have lunch.
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 12:56:40
Looking left, down (I think:) Via Alessandro III, off Via Duomo to the north[ii]
- [ii] Below, is the arched entrance to Via Alessandro III as shown on Google Street View. It appears to be the only arch through a building along Via Duomo.
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 12:58:00
Eastwards along Via Cimaglia, Vieste
Not finding much ahead, in Via Cimaglia, we turned back and went to a restaurant down the narrow alley, Via Celestino V, that we’d passed on our left just after we’d come out of the barbican
(i.e. now down to the right). The restaurant menu (not of much use to us because it was all in Italian) was attached to the wall just by the arch of the barbican. It was only a short way down the alley, and there were tables outside. Because the alley was shaded and cool, though, we didn’t sit there, but entered the door to the right. It was
Locanda La Macina, boasting “specialità tipiche garganiche”. We found ourselves under a (now familiar — almost even expected!) barrel-vaulted ceiling. The rear of the restaurant,
e.g. the toilets, was actually constructed in a cave.[iii]
- [iii] The address of Locanda La Macina, though, according to its website, is Via Alessandro III 49, Vieste. But
Janet remembers the menu on the wall, and the fact that the tables were visible as soon as one looked down the alley. (There are no tables visible in the photo of Via Alessandro III, above, taken 12:56:40.) Here’s a detail from a photo taken later:
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:18:04 (detail)
View from the Cathedral steps: ahead, Via Celestino V
Note the menu on the barbican wall.
And here’s another:
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:20:26 (detail)
Sign “Via Celestino V” and menu of Locanda La Macina on the barbican wall
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 13:10:28
Locanda La Macina
I ordered a ½ℓ carafe of red wine, and Janet had a Lemonsoda (an Italian soft drink, seen almost everywhere there, but not back in the UK). We had a bit of difficulty choosing, because they didn’t speak much English and couldn’t explain what was in the rather vaguely named menu-items. I think the starter we chose was “antipasto rustico”, because it seemed to us a safe bet that it wouldn’t include anything with tentacles. There were perhaps half a dozen slices of cheese arranged round the plate, with pieces of sausage, the strong-flavoured local olives, and bread. We also had a side-order of cherry tomatoes. I sampled each of the cheeses, anti-clockwise, finding that they were ordered from strong to mild. So when I ate them, I did so in the reverse order.
Janet had lasagne, and I had orecchiette with a ragu sauce. There was too much for me to eat, but
Janet helped me out. She topped that with a sweet, torta di ricotta, which she said was like the Yorkshire curd tarts I used to get when I was at Hull University. We finished with two
caffè americano, mine black, Janet’s with milk. This is the first time that I can remember
Janet having coffee when we’ve been out, since many years ago anyway. I’m pleased, therefore, that it proved to be the “benchmark” of coffee, with which she could compare any other others she would subsequently have: piping hot, strong, and flavoursome. The bill, €48.50, which included
coperti at 2 x €1.50, was less than we often pay when we go out for lunch at home on a Saturday. After that we went across to the cathedral (in fact, a “co-cathedral”, a term we first encountered in Valletta).
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:40:50
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste
As in recent churches we’d visited, it had the
nave-and-two-aisles[iv] layout, except that above the pillars of the main nave there were clerestories, not matronea. The pillars of the nave were of different styles: at least one masonry pillar; and stone columns, both cylindrical and prismatic. From each aisle, there were side-chapels.
- [iv] I use aisle in the sense of “a part parallel to, and usually divided by pillars from, the main nave”, not in the more modern sense of “a passage between rows of pews or seats” or “a passage between cabinets and shelves of goods in a supermarket”.
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:42:46
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: nave
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:44:08
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: one of the side chapels
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:45:04
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: baptistery chapel
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:45:34
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: left aisle
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:46:22
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: right aisle
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:47:12
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: chapel of St. George, with modern statues of the archangels Michael and Raphael and relics of Padre Pio da Pietrelcina
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:48:46
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:51:36
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:52:00
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:52:36
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: chapel, where originally the right aisle ended in an apse
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:53:20
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:53:48
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste
“He became obedient unto death” (Philippians 2:8)
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:56:08
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:57:00
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:58:42
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 14:59:44
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
I. Jesus is condemned to death
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:00:28
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
II. Jesus carries his cross
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:00:54
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
III. Jesus falls the first time
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:01:22
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
IV. Jesus meets his mother
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:01:50
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
V. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:02:56
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
VI. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:04:02
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
VII. Jesus falls the second time
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:04:40
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
VIII. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:05:14
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
IX. Jesus falls the third time
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:06:44
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
X. Jesus is stripped of his garments
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:07:46
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
XI. Jesus is nailed to the cross
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:08:12
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
XII. Jesus dies on the cross
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:08:44
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
XIII. Jesus is taken down from the cross
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:09:04
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: Stations of the Cross
XIV. Jesus is laid in the tomb
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:10:02
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: more detailed view of Station XIII
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:13:28
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: main altar
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:13:52
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: ceiling
Painting in tempera: St. Michael the Archangel, patron saint of the archdiocese
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:14:40
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: ceiling
Painting in tempera: Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:15:28
Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste: ceiling
Painting in tempera: San Giorgio, protector of Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:18:04
Steps down from Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Vieste
Saturday 24 September 2016 — 15:20:26
Barbican, Vieste
We went back to the newer part of town. Janet couldn’t locate a bar/gelateria that she’d been in this morning. We bought two postcards from a
Tabacchi shop in Viale XXIV Maggio; then we had caffè americano
(Janet’s with milk: both strong, but not as hot as we’d have liked) in a pasticceria somewhere along there, and
Janet had a couple of small pastries. There was a farmers’ market somewhere just off Viale XXIV Maggio, so we had a look round that. There were all sorts of wares, but my abiding memory is of pastas in all shapes, sizes and colours, and cheap wine in huge plastic containers. We returned to the hotel
ca.4.30pm. I felt weary, lay on the bed, and fell asleep. Janet noted in her journal that I was still asleep at 6.50pm. But I must have woken up shortly after that because I transferred 112 photos from my camera to the
WD Elements HDD (19:13–19:19), then viewed them in Windows Photo Viewer, rotating 36 that needed it (19:21–19:27). At 7.30pm we went down to the dining room. I got the remainder of my bottle of red wine from the waiter. I had no appetite, and that wasn’t remedied by tonight’s menu, which I thought unappetising. In fact, the more I thought about it, the less I felt able to face any food. “I wasn’t surprised when he grabbed his wine,”
Janet wrote, “and left… I always prefer for [John] to be there, but we were on a table with four other tour members so I certainly had no problem with his departure.” I was in bed when
Janet returned to the room shortly after 9pm. She was in bed ca.10.15pm.
[Sunday 25 September 2016]
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