Pope to Puglia Day 33 Monopoli to Torre Canne – 24km

Sails have replaced olive trees, rocky outcroppings, and cliffs instead of straight dirt roads, sandy beaches in hidden alcoves in place of stone walls. The Puglian Adriatic coast isn’t like the dramatic mountains cascading into the water of the Amalfi coast; rather, it is flat and accessible, the crystalline blue water melding with low lying flat tufa home to hundreds of mussels. We lunch, consisting of an orange, in one of those alcoves where we rest our feet in the cool water while crabs delivered a crustacean pedicure. 

Most seaside locations are still shuttered, only a few Northern Europeans and intrepid Americans in the water, but the rows of sunbathing chairs carefully lined up to the edge of the water suggest a tsunami of vacationers will soon wash ashore. We selfishly appreciate the quiet before the storm. 

Aside from the occasional Angevin castle or Norman tower and the ever-present Puglian Romanesque churches in the small fishing villages, there aren’t any exceptional cultural sites along the coast.  We visited a Roman archeological site, mostly granite blocks suggestively strewn about.  The sea is the thing.