Gargano in September 5 Relaxing on Varano beach and moving on to Vieste

On Saturday we get up early-ish. We want to go to Rodi to get fish at the market and more delicious olives from the Dok supermarket and we are expecting this to be quick and easy, we know where to park, on top of the Dok.

Arriving in Rodi I turn off to the Dok top car park to find the road blocked by the fortnightly market. Also, it's really difficult to turn round between a stall and parked cars. Couldn't they have said the road was closed?

We park elsewhere and have a look at the market which is pretty insignificant and then go to the grimy covered market which has the usual rather sad couple of stalls. Fortunately there are a couple of mullets which are always tasty and inexpensive. Walking back to the car a message arrives from what we had hoped was our next Airbnb accommodation to say they are closed. So how about blocking the calendar?

Back at the apartment we look again at booking.com and Airbnb and then give up and go and sit on the beach, which is very pleasant indeed, until it's time to cook lunch.

After lunch we go for another walk along the splendid wild beach and then after a 'merenda' of fruit take the deckchair back to the beach to relax, book Villaggio Sabbiadoro at Vieste where a kind lady informs us that since they have no studio apartments they will give us a one-bedroom apartment for the same price, 200 euro which also includes beach facilities, and wait for another splendid sunset, one of the best things about our stay there:

the splendid and empty beach and the sunsets. Tomorrow time to move on.....

The next day we are in the car for 9.30 and driving along the mostly coast road in the direction of Peschici. Most of the traffic seems to be in the other direction. The kind lady at Sabbiadoro Village said we could arrive in the morning so by lunchtime we are settled in and eating pastasciutta. The apartment is small, basic, but perfectly clean and the environment is very pleasant indeed, quiet, with lots of flowering shrubs and a discrete distance between the groups of houses. Like camping but without the stress and discomfort.
In the afternoon we explore our Lido, which is included. The staff there do not excel in terms of friendliness but we are silently shown to a second row position and are quite pleased. It's Sunday but there aren't that many people around. After a rest and some sunbathing we walk along the beach to Vieste, not that optimistically after Peschici and Rodi. However the view walking north along the beach towards Vieste is pretty spectacular, the rectangular off-white houses perched on the white cliffs with Pizzomunno towering below. 

And indeed, once we get to the town, our brief look on this first afternoon is pleasant, beautiful views, clean white and magnolia painted houses, restored stonework, very pleasant, we will explore over the coming days.

We walk back to our pleasant veranda for a simple supper of friselle, tomatoes and burrata.