Magestic Leuca, The Southern Tip of Italy's Boot-Heel

Grotto with crystal clear water along Italy's southernmost Ionian Sea Coast

I have been obsessed with the idea of traveling to the southernmost point of the heel of Italy's boot since arriving here in early September.  What would it be like to gaze across that expanse of Mediterranean Sea toward Greece and Africa where the Ionian and Adriatic Seas meet?

Traveling is so much fun when you can see through the eyes of newly arrived companions. Sondra's family and my friends Shirleen, Doug and Caryl, arrived in Lecce last week and we have been acquainting them with the local sites now familiar to us.  After consulting the weather forecast we determined that the winds and weather would be fine for a trip to the sea .  The "tourist" buses that travel to the coasts regularly have now stopped for the season, so we hired a driver to take us to the acclaimed town of Leuca and Santa Maria di Leuca and booked a boat for exploring the coastline.      

Seafaring Crew, including former Navy man, the incomparable Doug Sturtz, who entertained us with stories of stormy sea passages                       

Our captain steered us close to the rocky shoreline to provide views of the villas and landscape landed upon by earlier saints, crusaders, Greeks, Turks and explorers of the ages.  Leuca was among the two locations along the main navigational routes from Africa and the Middle East to the upper Adriatic. The yellow highlighting below references our main destination.

History:  Navigational notes concerning the area in times past:  In the winter period, long-lasting and strong southern winds blow from the direction of North Africa towards the Alps and through the Strait of Otranto, bringing black rain clouds, lightning and thunder. During Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when ships with sails crossed the Adriatic from the Balkan to the Apennine Peninsula and vice versa via the route from Durrës (Durrachium) in present-day Albania to Cape Santa Maria di Leuca in Italy, where the width of the Adriatic is narrowest, often would bring breaking, storm-induced waves that forced the vessel to change its course and set sail to the open seas to the north. This change in the sailing route was perilous for many old ships, so if by chance they managed to avoid the risk of sinking in the open seas, storm-induced waves would shatter them, smashing them against the mainland with great force. Few were lucky enough to sail into the sheltered anchorage of the island of Lokrum near Dubrovnik . . .  three major shipwrecks, of three famous shipwreck survivors who managed to save themselves by reaching the Dubrovnik mainland are: St Paul the Apostle in 60 A.D., famous English king Richard the Lionheart in 1192, and the founder of the Franciscan order, Francis of Assisi in 1212 and 1219.

 Luckily for us, the seas were calm and we did not have an unplanned landing in Dubrovnik.

                                                    Near the entrance to the harbor in Leuca.

   

Brave mariners

Sadly, we do not speak Italian and our driver, Dario, does not speak English.  For this trip, I was situated in the front seat with the driver and smiled a lot in lieu of attempting to verbalize . As the day progressed, my confidence climbed as we twisted along the narrow cliff roads adjacent to the blue waters far below that reminded me of Highway 1 in California, a familiar place. 

 I had little to lose, I thought, and decided to ask the driver about an Italian expression I had heard spoken often since our arrival but had not yet looked up in my Italian Dictionary.  The word preceded so many sentences I'd overheard that I figured I should know the meaning.  I looked at Dario and asked what is the meaning of the word, "allore. " He looked at me with an expression of utter horrified disbelief and said, "I smell !!??!"  

Aghast, I vigorously shook my head, "NO, no, no no NO!  

I decided to be silent for a while and let him concentrate on the road.   I  stared ahead wondering how I had gotten it so wrong.  Was it a dialectical difference?  My pronunciation?  I couldn't imagine that all the Italian speaking people I'd been listening to were are going around saying "you smell." 

 I was really confused. 

I speculated about the long history of failed Italian governments and thought I knew the reason. . .  

It was well past lunchtime when Dario said that we would soon be stopping for a seafood meal at a good restaurant owned by people he knew, and in his explanation he used that ubiquitous word that sounded to me like "allore."  I pounced, "THAT's IT !"  Allore!!  That's the word!!  

Oh, he said, "Oh, ALLORA . . .  allora, allora.  Si, si, it means nothing." 

Upon safe return to my studio that evening I located the dictionary and found that allora means "well then."  

Allora.

Leuca

Rock on rock
Meticulous constructions

Fearsome Foursome

Nice real estate overlooking the Adriatic
We sighted Albania and the closest Greek island from near here.

?

Zinzulusa Cave landing near the town of  Castro

http://www.grottazinzulusa.it/zinz2b.html

Much of this region is made up of karst topography, like our Iowa homeland, providing systems of underground tunnels and caves. We toured the Zinsulusa cave, famous for stalactites and stalagmites and protected albino  starfish and other aquatic anomalies.  The tour ends in a very large room they call the "Duomo."

Doug saw two faces in these rocks.  He only had one glass of wine.  Do you see them?  I see one human and one raccoon.

Rugged Adriatic Coast

Arrivederci!