We wanted to explore more of the rough and rocky coast around Gallipoli and went on a hike to one of the view beaches: Spiaggia di Porto Selvaggio. The karst along the sea is craggy and sharp-edged. Just one little bay offers a beach, which is surely well visited in summer.
The Porto Selvaggio Regional Natural Park with Torre Uluzzo on the right and Torre Dell’Alto on the left offers paths along the coast and through the forest. We started from a big parking (40.162035, 17.969941), taking the route along the sea.
We also wanted to visit the Nardò Ring, built in 1975 as a high speed test track. It was acquired by Porsche Engineering in 2012. The track is a 12.5 kilometres long circular track and has four lanes for cars and motorcycles and a separate inner ring for trucks. The lanes are banked at such a degree that a driver in the outer most lane doesn’t need to turn the wheel while driving at speeds of up to 240 km/h. The plant also includes other tracks, for example a handling circuit, with sixteen curves of different radius and variable lateral slope. It is used to test durability, reliability, vehicle dynamics and tires. We would have loved to visit the ring, but it didn’t seem open to visitors. We drove around it, coming close to the ring, but separated by a wall, so we gave up and drove on to Taranto – more about this town on our next post!