Torre dell' Orso

I apologize for the week-long lapse of posting, but I've been pretty busy this past week with school presentations and reading. I bought two new books: Kerouac's On the Road in Italian (or, Sulla Strada) and a book by a well known Italian author called Per un attimo immenso, ho dimenticato il mio nome. It's becoming easier and easier for me to understand longer texts, and it's helping immensely with my vocabulary and sentence structuring. Also, it helps that my Italian roommates are bibiliophiles like I am, because we spend a lot time talking about Italian and American works.

This weekend was yet another spent lounging al mare (at the sea), but Saturday was a little different than our school had originally planned. Frankie and I again decided to skip the organized day trip to Trani, and instead we piled into Davide's tiny Fiat ane he drove us to a beach near his hometown of Maile. The beach was called Baia dei Turchi (Bay of the Turks), and it was, again, a beautiful, clear-water beach along the Adriatic Sea. For some inexplicable reason, I didn't bring my camera along for that trip, so I couldn't document the hours I spent playing soccer with Davide and his friends on the beach. Afterward, he took us to his parents house in Otranto, and we spent a few hours talking with his family over coffee and his mom's homemade Tiramisu-like cake. Again, I was amazed by the hospitality of Italians.

Sunday, too, was spent at the sea, only this time I made sure not to forget my camera.



Torre dell' Orso is a long stretch of beaches along the Adriatic Sea, made up of Baia del' Oriente (where we were), and Baia dei Turchi (where I was Saturday with Davide), and a sprinkling of other, smaller beaches. When we first got to the beach in the morning, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people on the beach, leaving only walking space in between each group of people, so my friends and I found a nice spot in the shade just behind the beach, from which the picture was taken. We spent the largest part of the day up there, until I decided to walk around a little bit more and see the other side of the beach. I'm glad I did, too, because on the other side of the beach, obscured from our view by some of the gaping cliffs, was some of the prettiest coast line i've ever seen.

The view from the bottom of the cliff I climbed to get a better picture.





A close-up of the rocks.



After discovering the other side of the beach, I went back to our spot and convinced the others to follow me back to the, in my opinion, best spot at Torre dell' Orso. Once they got there, they all agreed. The water was warm and clear, and we waded around the far side of the rocks to find another grotto of sorts, hidden from the rest of the over-populated beach. I spent a few minutes trying to decide how to get my camera across the water without ruining it, when a friend of mine chimed in: "Throw it in a plastic bag."

Genious.

So, we waded back to our belongings, and I double wrapped my camera in two large ziplock bags (which, of course, we brought from the 'States, because Italy has yet to discovery their utility), and waded back to our hidden cove.



With the plastic wrapped tightly around my camera, leaving only the lens exposed, I was able to get some pretty cool shots of the water and the rocks.





The view from the hidden beach.



Fellow explorers.







In all, this past week was filled with all sorts of intersting things, including new great gelato, cafe and architectural discoveries. I promise more posts in the next few days, as Frankie and I start planning our oncoming 9-day break.

Alla prossima.