28 January 2026 – Wednesday – Last day in Puglia

We signed up for the optional tour called Salento’s way. It began with a short ride to Gallatina, a nearby town with 6,000 inhabitants. We walked a short way to reach the church. The facade was done in 1390 decorated with 2 eagles and 2 lions which are symbols of the church. A wealthy man expanded what had been a small church into a much larger one. His young French wife oversaw the interior decoration. Since the surrounding townspeople were mostly pagan, the decor was done as stories from the Bible. Many frescoes have been restored. They are stunning. There was a series of frescoes showing the apocalypse. The altar ceiling is covered with angels on a background of blue that was typical of the artist Giotto. Every wall was breathtaking. 

We moved on through the streets to reach a pastry shop that makes a specialty of the town pasticciotto. It is a small muffin filled with a light vanilla cream. Our B&B has some but they were nothing like what we ate in Gallatina. Alice bought hot drinks for us to go with the treats. The cookies and cakes in the cases were incredibly tempting as well. But none of us had brought money. Just as well. 

It began to rain heavily. Alice got our driver to come pick us up across the street from the pastry shop. We then moved on to visit a family winery in another small town. We walked to the entrance of the cellar. It was originally used for making olive oil. There is still a small production in the winery. The old olive oil area held donkeys to walk the stone presses and people who worked the production line. It was cold and damp there. 

We moved on to the wine cave to see the barrels. The production is small, 50,000 bottles. 
We climbed up from the wine cellar to cross to the main house where we had a wine tasting of white, rose, and red wines with an accompanying light lunch of pizza, salad and spinach frittata. There was a cozy fire set in the fireplace where our table was set. We have not been hungry once so far! 

By the time we were ready to leave, the rain had ended and the sun peeked out. We continued on to the seaside town of Otranto. As we began our walk, there was a ship that had sunk and been salvages and turned into a work of art. It was very attractive for an old rusty hull! 
As we climbed up into the walled town, we heard the story of an ancient Muslim invasion. Otranto is across the Adriatic from Albania. Apparently the Muslims entered the town and killed about 700 people starting with women and children, then offering mercy to men willing to convert. No one

We then visited the church. The floor is covered with mosaics done  by the monks in 1163-1165. the floor depicts the tree of life in the central area including animals  of all sorts. There is another series of mosaics depicting hell, and zodiac signs and months. A side chapel holds the skulls and bones from the Muslim slaughter. It is a strange sight. 
We continued our walk through town.  It was quite deserted because the town is mostly a summer resort. The harbor was calm and lovely. 

We returned to our B&B to pack up. We leave at 4 am tomorrow for Sicily. Our final dinner was fish. It was light and perfect. Time to sleep