The Turkish peninsula is forever etched in the Australian psyche as a tragic and formative World War I battleground. This place, however, has an entirely different story.
A welcoming committee of harbour cats, dressed head to tail in black, greets our cruise ship as it nudges to the wharf in Gallipoli. For Australians, the name is forever associated with the Turkish peninsula where more than 11,000 Anzac soldiers died during World War I, but how many of us have heard of this historic town on the Salento Peninsula in Puglia, southern Italy, tucked down the heel of the boot?
The etymology of both names share the same Greek root, Kallipolis, meaning “beautiful city”, and it’s an accurate description of this almost unbearably pretty port on the Ionian Sea.
The ocean was rough last night, and the crews of fishing boats that made it out and back to harbour are licking their wounds. Fishermen sit in their boats mending nets, while the cats (I never do find out why they’re all black) meow on the margins, sniffing speculatively at the salty air and pouncing on the occasional fishy morsel tossed their way.
Read the full story here
