Today we began the third leg of our trip in Torre dell’Orso, a beach town in the southern Italian region of Puglia on the Salento coast.

We met Fabrizio and his father Giovanni as we checked into our bed & breakfast one block from the beach. A very kind host, he was excited to practice his English with us and show us around the unit. Our room has a double bed, two twins beds, a sizable bathroom and we share a huge patio with the people in the next room.

We spent at least five hours at the beach, enjoying the crystal clear warm water and soft sand – a big change from navigating the hot or often slippery rocks to get into the water that we experienced further north on the Adriatic. I’ve never experienced water so clear before, even in the Caribbean.

The stretch of beach was packed — every beach club and Spiaggia Libera (public beach) as well. Despite the number of people on the sand, and umbrellas open at the clubs, the water didn’t feel crowded since we could walk out around 100 feet before it began to get deep. It’s amazing how shallow the water was until we reached the rocks (which the kids jumped off of) where it was very deep.

We had lunch/dinner/gelato at Pasticceria Dentoni, overlooking the beach. An assortment of pastries, finger sandwiches, more pastries, olives, and gelato — we picked on things throughout the afternoon / night and opted to skip sitting down for a meal today.

Around 10pm we caught a group of girls (elementary and middle school aged) performing rhythmic gymnastics on one of several stages near the beach. Performances starting at 10pm are the norm here, and similar to what we experienced with the folk festival in Alberobello, the girls performed one opening number, and then there was 30+ minutes of formalities on stage (people being invited up to speak, presentation of certificates, thanking sponsors, etc.). Then they performed a second number and another 30 minutes of congratulations remarks and fireworks. After one hour, we had our fill and it was time for bed.