The pretty Gargano coast on the northern end of Puglia promised an abundance of secluded beaches, or so said the brochure for the boat trip we’d planned to take (but which was sadly cancelled due to the Italian version of high winds (i.e a mild breeze)).
Undeterred, Mr Travelling Pantaloni and I set off by car the next day to find them anyway.
Travelling south from Peschici we found Arco di San Felice, which looked very promising indeed.
But we were headed for a little beach called Porto Greco which I’d read about and wanted to find.
I knew it wasn’t going to be sign-posted, or on the GPS, so we stopped when we saw a couple of cars parked by the side of the road in the vicinity of where I thought it would be. And lucky us, no ‘parking attendant’ (Southern Italy is full of enterprising people who ‘caretake’ any space that looks like it could be a parking area, and for a fee (usually a couple of Euro) they’ll usher you into a spot (which you can clearly find yourself) and ‘take care of’ your car for you while you’re gone.
We found a track and hoping for the best, followed it down a gully.
On the way we passed an abandoned house, wondering who had lived here, and why they’d left it.
After about ten minutes of walking downhill we saw our first glimpse of the beach …
And surprisingly it looked like there was some sort of shack there …
Of course we’re in Italy so it must be a bar! Even in the remotest of spots one can’t go without a decent coffee
Our navigational skills, effort and curiosity had been rewarded with a gorgeous little bay with hardly a soul on it.
But wait! What’s that approaching?!!!
A boat full of TOURISTS!!!!
Our secret beach, invaded by the very boat we’d booked to be on the day before. Le sigh…
Fortunately for us they only stayed twenty minutes and then we had the beach to ourselves again.
Mr TP found some pretty rocks and made an art installation out of my leg
Despite the hoard of tourists, Porto Greco is a lovely little pebble beach with calm, warm (in September) seas, rocks to climb and a beach bar.
Oh, and as we found out on our return, a parking attendant.
Until next time, safe travels and happy beach days,
The Travelling Pantaloni
If you enjoyed this post you can read more about a real secret beach we found in Basilicata here
