Day 7 Otranto Loop

June 20:  We had a second night at Masseria Montelauro today, so the bike ride was an out and back along the coast road.  There was an option to go all the way to the tip of Italy (Marina di Leuca) but it would have been over 103 km round trip  We chose instead to bike down to Castro, specifically a sea cave just north of the town, and return.  We completed about 25 km one-way, or a total of 31 miles round trip.  We had several climbs on the way down with nice downhills, which became uphill climbs on the way back.  Also, on the way back we were mostly into the wind.  It was blowing hard enough to stop me going downhill.  

The ride started from our masseria toward Otranto for 2 km, then turned south along the coast.  We passed an old "military zone," which I though looked like a POW camp - a little broken down, with peeling paint.  However, there was a large "golf ball" indicating an active radar site.  

We next arrived into Porto Badisco which had a very nice swimming "canyon."  We stopped for a break at the town park overlooking the water and snagged a couple of mulberry berries, which are intensely sweet and purple.  They would make a great cloth dying agent.

We rode past several ruined Norman (?) watchtowers, which appeared to be sited within sight of each other from one headland to the next.  We arrived at Santa Cesarea Terme, a resort town with thermal baths and Moorish themed architecture.  The spa building in particular featured curved arches and domes. On the way we passed "Villaggio Paradiso," with several nice resorts, so we can say we have been to Paradise.

After another up and down, we reached Castro and dropped down to sea level to visit a sea cave called Grotto Zinzulusa.  We locked up the bikes and paid for a tour.  Emanuele, an archeologist who spoke English, guided us through the cave.  We went about 300 feet into the cave, passing a glassy, brackish pool at sea level, and then descended slightly, seeing the standard limestone cave formations of stalactites, stalagmites, and columns.  We reached the end of the path at a large room of smoother sedimentary rock without any stalactites, etc.  Emanuele explained that the deeper cave was probably carved by an underground river that did a hairpin-type curve at the softer sedimentary rock, eroded the large cavern, and then flowed out to the sea.  The upstream cave is unexplored since it is underwater and the passages are too narrow for divers to pass through.  The cave has a long history, including prehistoric and modern dwellers, and natural resources including endemic crustacean species and bats, although the bats moved away after tourism started.  Emanuele was very enthusiastic and loved talking about his archeological work.  He was particularly proud that a new archeological museum was about to open in Castro that would feature Greek and Roman relics from the area.  The Greeks built an important shrine to Athena here, and archeologists found a beautiful carved torso of the goddess only last year.

Our ride back was pretty tough, with the long uphills and oncoming wind.  We detoured into the small city of Otranto to visit the historic old town with its castle, fortified walls, and churches.  The basilica had a stunning ceiling, especially the central part which was carved, coffered, and painted blue and gold.  The floor throughout the church was decorated with mosaics of life sized animals, both real and imaginary - dogs, lions, dragons - plus a few human figures.  We did not see any information that explained the significance but the figures were quite vivid.

When we were done with the city, we hustled uphill back to the inn.  We immediately changed into swimming gear and spent some time at the pool, swimming, have refreshments, and reading.

Dinner was at the masseria again, though we tried to moderate the amount we ate.  It was again a four-course dinner with great vegetable antipasti, spaghetti (half-portion), grilled steak, and orange sponge cake with a caramelized top.