Cycling in Italy - Day 14: First day in Taranto

27 / 07 / 2013

First things first: Taranto's Raffo beer with my host Felice 

Taranto used to be the capital of Magnia Graecia (Great Greece). It was colonised by Spartans back in 706 BC. Now it was my turn. After another day of cycling under the hardcore sun of southern Italy, I met my hosts, Felice and Anna.

(I don't know why, but  I continue to cycle between 14:00 to 16:00 EVERY time on this journey. As if it's not hard enough to ride an already heavy bike, with heavy electric motor that doesn't work, heavy bags and a heavy biker)

Luky me, this night was the annual celebration of "La Notte Della Taranta", a big outdoor music festival.

People by the seaside of Taranto 

A festival without candies is not a festival

...and fake jewellery.

Me and my friends arrived just on time when Goran Bregovic was on stage, performing a mixture of Italian-Balkan-Tarantella-Pizzica-everythingalltogether style, that the locals seemed to enjoy.

People of all ages were having fun on the streets of Taranto, but suddenly around 12:00 the music went off.
I couldn't understand why because the entire city was dancing by the beach. So, the "people are sleeping" argument was invalid. Plus, the next day was Sunday.
But, as my friends told me, the mayor of Taranto is one of the most useless individuals in Italy.
Now I understand why.

With Christian and Anna

After the premature ending of the party, we headed to another place for one last Negroni. Or two.
The next day we were heading for the beach. This weekend was the hottest of all summer.

End of Day 14.