Puglia in September 2023 Porto Cesareo Day 6

On Friday morning we aren’t inspired by the fish in the various fishmongers. Some seems to have been there all week and we are undecided. We remember the little fishing boats at the harbour and decide to go and look. As we arrive, a boat pulls in and the lone fisherman pulls out a bucket of the fish he has caught. Some is still moving. Some men waiting on a bench stand up and crowd behind me and I’m already thinking I have no chance when the fisherman looks at me and smiles and asks me what I want. Two tonnetti, ten euros for the two! I can’t believe my luck. The freshest fish ever!

The swim the day before was enticing so by 9 o’clock we are on the little beach we thought looked quiet when we explored on Tuesday afternoon. Nobody, well, just a fisherman. I have the sun-lounger for Andrea. The September sun doesn’t require a sun umbrella so early in the morning so I am free to swim. And swim I do, up and down, which really isn’t very far if I think about Vieste, but the sea is beautiful, warm and transparent and the right depth for swimming for me (I can touch the bottom easily but don’t hit my knees! quite close to the shore. 

People are arriving, with an inflatable boat, umbrellas, various equipment. We go for walk in the sea just the other side of the bushes which close the bay to the north. Splendid, splendid sea, even Andrea is impressed.

By the time we get back, the beach is filling up so we drive the few minutes back to the apartment for lunch. After finishing off one of the two tonnetti we rest a little and just out of curiosity, I look on the Internet to see if there’s a nice cafè for a coffee or a cake. Some photos of ‘spumone’ at ‘Dolci Tramonti’ catch the eye. It seems I have been ignorant so far. Spumone is a typical ice-cream of the Salento area…..obviously we will have to try it. 

We are at ‘Dolci Tramonti’ which has a nice view of the sea, by four o’clock,  just when people are starting to arrive, so it’s easy to find a table. We indulge in two spumoni, one traditional with chocolate and hazelnut and one with yogurt and forest fruits and two ‘espressini’ the mini-cappuccino of Puglia. When the plates arrive I’m a little worried at how much it’s going to cost, but it really is delicious. 

In the end the spumoni and company were just 6 euros each and sitting down with espressino, the little glass of water they always give you with coffee in Puglia etc we spend just over 15 euros. A very good experience. We continue our walk as we did the previous evening and wait for the sunset, not bad at all. Or is everything more beautiful after good food...?