Last day in the Puglia area. Wow our time here flew by! The storm has passed and we are clear to take off to Gallipoli, on the Ionic Sea.
Manduria Mercato
Olives and nuts.
Grains of every imaginable kind.
Dried fava!
I’ve looked forward to this market all week. Visiting the markets here in Italy is like taking the Portland Saturday Market and dividing it into small chunks all over Italy. We stayed in Volterra an extra day just so we could visit their Saturday Market.
The Manduria market had grown since the last time we visited. We did some shopping with Anna (Antimo’s mom) but were on a time crunch so we didn’t get to visit as many vendors as I would have liked. I did manage to pick up a long sleeve tunic that came with a really cute necklace that I can wear with leggings this winter for….. wait for it….. 5 euros! (Tunic and necklace!)
This cracked me up. The bumper to bumper traffic is leaving the market at 11:00 am. Reminded me of the Orange County Swap Meet on the weekends – lots of traffic coming and going.
Market done, on to Gallipoli! It’s a little over an hour away so settled in for a nice drive alongside groves of olive trees and grapevines as far as the eye could see.
About midway, Antimo stopped the car in front of a grove of pomegranate trees where the fruit was just bursting on the limbs. A photo opp and then everybody back in the car….
Gallipoli looks like a typical beach town – but it is in Italy! A little touristy but very quaint, a lot to see, and fun to visit.
Walking up one of the streets with a view of the sea on the left and the city on the right, I spotted Martinucchi’s! Okay, I don’t care about what anyone else thinks, in my opinion, hands down Martinucchi’s is the best gelato! For two euros you get two scoops either in a cone or a small bowl.
We had massive beautiful clouds in the sky and no rain today!
Clear sea water, you could see the fish swimming between the rocks. The sea was very calm this day. 
The diverseness of the ancient castle and the modern art sea urchin at the entrance to Gallipoli struck me.
Again, the ancient church with a modern scooter out front.
Lunch at a seaside cafe. 
I ordered a fish dish I think was swordfish with tomatoes and olives. OMG good!
Ricardo had calamari and shrimp. Also delicious.
A little shopping while waiting for the church to open and view. I went into this “hole in the wall” and found the cutest white dress/shirt thing for 10 euros. I couldn’t pass it up!
Checked out the church which was beyond belief with frescos and paintings on wood. Then back to Manduria to regroup before dinner.
The last supper (well we did visit a church today so I am feeling the spirit) was pasta and meatballs. May seem mundane to you, but Ricardo and I really wanted a simple meal. I’ve only had one pasta meal this whole time we’ve been in Italy so I was kind of craving it if that’s possible.
Ricardo’s happy because he has wine!
Plain, everyday spaghetti with a good tomato sauce.
Meatballs that were fried and then immersed in a tomato sauce. Oh so good!
Quick note about the old Italian men that hang out in front of the buildings and gossip. They are speaking dialect and rather loudly as you might imagine, except when we pass by. They know we are foreigners and when we approach to pass them on the sidewalk, they start speaking in a lower tone of voice, in a whisper so we can’t hear what they are saying – like we would know what they were saying – ha ha.
We headed back home to pack and get ready for the flight to Rome tomorrow.