3 June 2023 - Vieste

Vieste is a pretty seaside town that sits on a white cliffed promontory jutting into the sea, at the western end of the Gargano National Park, in the province of Foggia, Apulgia. This area of land is known as the spur of Italy.



Vieste was once just another fishing village, but now its a beach destination, mainly used by Italians and little known outside Italy. It has a picturesque old town featuring an 11th century Cathedral and long sandy beaches on each side.


Today, for us though, the priority was to recuperate and regroup, the main need being laundry. I delight, during our travels in the interchange with local people, even if it is limited by our lack of knowledge of their language. The lavanderia was an example of seeing the locals getting on with their day to day needs. The towns on this south east coast of Italy are well served with these establishments and they are always in good order and spotlessly clean. There is usually a proprietor to help you work out the system. The lady here was very happy in her work and was always laughing when someone came to drop off or collect items, some greeted with kisses on both cheeks. Her phoned pinged incoming messages with a childish cartoon tweet, at regular intervals (quite irritating!). She was vacuum packing lots of winter clothes and bedding. What a great idea; I’ll be buying some bags and doing that when we get home.

The marinaro had told us that there would be a party in the town in the evening, so we went quite early to reserve a table for dinner. Tonight we picked a spot on the edge of the old town and enjoyed a walk through the narrow streets and alleyways, before we ate. Some of the streets had been decorated with hearts. The food is just superb. By 9.00pm, the place was heaving with people, out promenading, eating, socialising. It is always fantastic to see this in Italy. There are groups of friends, families of different generations and couples, all enjoying the evening. The gelato shop was doing a roaring trade. There were two stages set up, one for the local radio station and one for live music, but it didn’t start until after 10.00, too late for us, in our feeling of mild fatigue, but we could hear the music drifting round to the harbour, as we retired to bed.

It looks as if the cars on the narrow cross streets have climbed the stairs.


Love is in the air, there are hearts and messages on every step up the hill

Miles today            0

Miles in 2023     652

Tricia (& Steve)

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