Renée
As I wrote in a previous column, in southern Italy the population takes into account how the wind is before deciding which beach to go to.
The first few days we were not made aware of this theory, but we looked at which coastal areas the Salentobus was driving, grabbed Google and decided where to go that way. That's how we ended up at Laghi Alimini on one of the first days. The bus stopped right in front of the beach and what we saw when we got off put a big smile on my face.
White sand, turquoise sea
Alimini is a beautiful, long stretch of beach. Beautiful, almost white sand, a turquoise and endless sea. You can easily park your car (paid) in front of the beach under the trees. If you continue, you walk straight onto the beach and you have to choose, because at which beach bar do you lie down? That choice is completely up to you. In my opinion it doesn't really matter. The chairs cost about 10 euros each, excluding umbrella.
We walked – of course – for a long time. We chose the left side, don't ask me why. Lucky shot, I guess. We walked all the way to the end and ended up at bar Fico D'India. A relaxed bar on the beach, boats in the water and, at that time, still plenty of chairs available. We paid for the chairs, installed our gear and walked into the cooling water with our tennis set.
Alimini: an infinite bath
The choice to go to Alimini that day was perfect. The sea was still. I'd never seen anything like it. It seemed like a beautiful, infinite bath. We played tennis in the water for over two hours. Maybe it was all afternoon. It was so hot, in fact too hot to lie still on the beach bed.
Ten minutes on the beach bed equaled an hour of cooling off in the sea. We ordered beers and drank them in the water with our gaze on infinity. We played tennis and enjoyed the sun, the sea and the Italian music in the background.
Still want to rent a car?
Because Alimini is about an hour and a half away from Lecce with the Salentobus and it no longer runs after 20.00 p.m., we had to leave the beach around 18.00 p.m. If I remember correctly, the moment we wondered if maybe it wouldn't be easier to spend the rest of the holiday rent a car. I had never rented a car on holiday before, but being so dependent on a bus and bus and travel times turned out to be more annoying with the heat than we thought.
We decided to ask Marta about this, hoping for the Italian hospitality, as we had no idea how and where to arrange this.
Not only did Marta know where to rent a car, but she arranged the entire reservation. Marta had arranged for a Smart (vending machine) to be reserved in our name at a B&B in the center of Lecce that we could pick up on our fifth day and keep it until our last day of vacation.
Driving in Southern Italy
It was perfectly arranged, just fill in some details, the car was ready with a full tank and we could drive away. Well… you have to drive through the busiest street in Lecce. I found that quite exciting myself, but up to that point I had never driven abroad, let alone in a Smart.
The car turned out to be a real godsend. I recommend that to everyone. On September 5, the Salentobus stopped running. Fortunately we had Marta who saved us from that problem, but this was really a piece of luck in itself. Suppose you don't have Marta by your side, then that's quite a thing.
The coast is really at least a 20 minute drive from the center and that with 35 degrees… Then you don't have to wait for an overcrowded city bus and a taxi twice a day is also something.
💡Tip: arrange this in advance via your B&B, apartment or hotel where you are staying. There are not many places where you can rent a car, especially if you only drive an automatic, like me.
The roads in Lecce and around Lecce are perfectly passable. The first ride I was screaming behind the wheel, but that was more because Italians in general are not so aware of the existence of a direction indicator and then also not of the ease of pre-sorting, but you get used to that also quite quickly.
tailgaters
The speed at which Italians cross over the highway is also exciting, but as long as you keep to the normal speed and especially keep driving on the right, the trembling knees will stay away. What you have to pay attention to is how short in advance an exit is indicated and how short the exit and driveway are afterwards. You have to reduce your speed in no time and that is really exciting with a row of Italian tailgaters behind you. But you also get used to this.
How do you experience driving on Italian roads? Are you being hounded by Italian tailgaters?
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