Diamonds on the Soles of Your Shoes

Santa Maria de Leuca is at the very bottom of the heel of the boot of Italy. It is the closest port to our first Greek Island, Corfu. The town gets its name from the white limestone cliffs, the Greek Leucos meaning “white”. There is a monumental staircase by the harbor built by Mussolini as a ceremonial gateway into Italy. We plan on spending the night. 5 days later we are still here. The waves and wind have kicked up making our passage in the open sea a bit tenuous. We decide to error on the side of caution and wait until things calm down a little. It is not like it is a bad place to spend some time. We go to the market and restock up, head for the beach, and visit the grottos that are strung along the coast. I take a bike ride up the eastern coast along a beautiful road that clings to the side of a cliff on my left and blue ocean on my right. A string of resorts and quiet road make it one of those rides you don’t forget easily. One day we rent a car for 35 euros and head for the town of Lecce.

Lecce, in my opinion is way more beautiful than Pisa. It doesn’t have a famous leaning tower, but the baroque churches and meandering stone-paved roads leading you through quaint shops are way more impressive. The facades of the churches look like a mad man tried to put as much detail in every square inch only to be followed by an even more insane man who found even more places to carve detailed ornamentation. They look more like wedding cakes than stone buildings. The baroque style spills out onto the streets with intricately carved balconies and impressive entryways. The old gates to the city and strong castle walls are still protecting the area from bad developments. The town is much as it was a couple of centuries ago.