This morning we went to the weekly market in Martano. They had everything there – food (bread, fruit, vegetables, meats, cheeses, you name it they had it. They even had chickens in cages and were selling their eggs), shoes, clothes, bags, belts etc. There were some amazing deals to be had. The girls and I each picked up some bikinis for €1 for each piece, Greer got a cute wee shorts jumpsuit for €7 and we got a loaf of bread and 2 bread rolls for €2 – I thought I had misheard the guy when he said how much it was!)
We carried on the road to Otranto, a small town on the Adriatic Coast. The first stop was the Aragonese Castle. It dates back to the Greek period (IV-III century BC) and is perched upon a rocky outcrop overlooking the harbour. Following the Ottoman invasion in 1480 when all but 10,000 of the 22,000 inhabitants were slaughtered by the Ottomans. Approximately 800 citizens were beheaded when they refused to convert to Islam and are known as the Martyrs of Otranto. After the retaking of the city some 13 months later they decided to rebuild and strengthen the castle to enable it to withstand any future attacks.
It is now used mainly for exhibitions and there happened to be a Marc Chagall exhibition on. Mark & I both love his later work and especially his stained glass windows. This showed a selection of his work from early to older but wasn’t our favorites works.
There were some good views of the harbour and town from the castle walls. It was a hot day today, around 33/34°C so it was hot work walking around and the kids started to get over it.
We wandered the old town streets looking in the various, mainly souvenir, stores and came across the Otranto Cathedral. It was closed, which the kids were pretty happy about, but we took a photo from the outside.
We continued walking and ended up at Summer Fish cucina tipica ristorante for lunch. I think we may have been the only patrons so the service was very good. It was nice to enjoy some fresh seafood. I had the sea bream and it was delicious.
A few meters up the road was the best gelato shop we have come across yet, Pasticceria Merola.
We strolled along the Lungomare (the seafront) a little; the water looked very inviting and there were lots of people out swimming. We passed the Porta Alfonsina where there is a statue dedicated to the Martyrs of Otranto.
Back at the car, we ventured home and managed to disarm the alarm without incident. We all had a swim and sit in the sun before a visit to the Familia Supermarket in Maglie (about 20 minutes away), dinner, chill time and bed.
