Apulia, Italy.

2 May 2016

For the last two days we have been travelling southwards roughly along the coast of the Apulia region. I have mentioned before that the beaches around here are not too wonderful, although there seems to be a great tourist industry centered around them. The sand is brown, and the beaches are divided up into lots related to commercial enterprises which have built on them. These are mostly resturaunts and bars, but we also noticed a kite school in one place. 

And we have also noticed that these seaside towns close down completely for the winter. Most of them have not yet opened. Campgrounds are closed, all of the resturaunts are closed, shopping centres are closed, service stations etc. Some of the towns literally look like ghost towns, with no cars, no people. We have wondered how the economy survives this. It is similar in the mountains, with ski fields closed for summer along with all of the associated infrastructure. 

But the coastline is wonderful. 

And the countryside, away from the coast, is obviously very fertile rolling hills. 

This is one of the main olive growing regions of Italy, and in some places it is olive trees as far as the eye can see! 

And some land is doubly productive! 

And beautiful! 

Monte Sant'Angelo Sullivan Gargano is a religious sanctuary on the top of a mountain. It is the site of a number of supposed apparitions. According to legend, around the year 490 the Archangel Michael appeared several times to the Bishop of Sipontum near a cave, asking that the cave be dedicated to Christian worship and promising protection to the nearby town of Sipontum from pagan invaders. In the most dramatic appearance of the Archangel, Michael appeared with a flaming sword atop the mountain in the midst of a storm......... Well apparently this is still believed and we saw a number of pilgrims carrying crosses, walking up the mountain. 

The weirdest of these beliefs that I have encountered is the relic of the foreskin of Jesus which is still held in some Italian religious institution! According to David Farley (Wikipaedia), "Depending on what you read, there were eight, twelve, fourteen, or even 18 different holy foreskins in various European towns during the Middle Ages". Well I don't mind what they thought in the Middle Ages, but I do find it disturbing when people today still believe in these things. 

We met a young Polish man who was in Italy to visit various religious sites, including one where (he told us) the communion wafer had turned into the beating heart of Christ! I thought this must have been quite alarming at the time, but he seemed happy to believe this and was keen to see more such sites. He seemed surprised when we said we were atheists in response to his question as to whether we were Christians......

Here is our track so far since we arrived in Italy.