Otranto and Brindisi

Yacht harbor from walls

We called Andrea - the harbour master - on his mobile an hour before we arrived and he was there smiling and helpful to see us in to the quay. To our pleasant surprise it was only €15 per night including water.
Otranto is a small but pretty fortified seaside town. Very Italian with little or no English spoken. The harbour is large and safe although Northerlies push enough surge in to need springs on the lines (from personal experience).

Otranto town walls

We went looking for internet contracts - there turned out to be only one small Vodafone shop but actually did all 3 main networks. We had difficulty following the technical Italian but eventually figured out that we should come back the next day as there was some sort of a promotion starting. So we did. After lots mor waffling, I still didn't fully get it so we went for a Vodafone pay as you go - €25 for 1 month or 7Gig. We'll try to get a better deal in a bigger town.
We intended to go out for a meal that night but the weather was so horrible (wet, cold & windy) that even the cat didn't want to go out.

Tiny piece of the huge mosaic

Friday was blue sky and sunshine. The town was alive with people promenading and enjoying the end of the Easter holiday. Did sight seeing - lots of little winding back street and little shops. The most impressive sight was the byzantine cathedral. Gorgeous rose window and a seriously weird mosaic covering the whole floor - the medieval mind was very strange. Well worth a visit.

We left for Brindisi at crack of dawn the next day. The wind was moderate and behind us all the way so we sailed for 8 hours. Did the last few miles on motor as the wind died and we were being chased by a thunder storm. The harbor is huge and very well sheltered. The outer part is entirely commercial. The inner part has a town quay, a Lega Navale pontoon and a Marina. As we got there, the heavens opened - very cold and very wet. The town quay looked completely full. We lurked hopefully outside the Lega Navale until a bloke with a large umbrella came out - and told us to go away. There is a huge mooring space below the Mussolini steps with nobody on it. We called the harbormaster on VHF to try to get permission to moor there. He passed us on to VTS who passed us on to Brindisi Pilot. Everyone friendly but negative. The Pilot told us there are only 3 places we can moor - the quay, the Lega Navale or the marina. Where did we want to go?
"The town Quay".
"It's full" (we knew that).
"OK - the Lega Navale".
He spoke to them and told us to call them on VHF 9. We did - no answer. Repeated several times. In the end, we gave up and went to the Marina - expecting it to be €50. It was a pleasant surprise to find it "only" €22 with free water, elec & showers. We were cold wet and miserable and decided to stay 2 nights.

Brindisi Duomo

The following day dawned blue and warm. We took the number 5 bus into town from outside the marina (after a long 3/4 hour wait). The town was closed (not really surprising as it was Sunday). We wandered round a bit, saw the fountain, Apian way column and cathedral, then ended up just missing the bus back and waited another hour. It's not entirely Brindisi's fault but we won't remember it with a great deal of warmth.

Brindisi Marina

A very Italian way of "sailing".