Neither of us knew much about Taranto other than it being the homeland of one of our friends in NYC. While in Taranto, we decided to do the same thing we did in Sicily – just walk around the town and see the sights.
It was a long walk from the boats to the center of town, and the town is very old. It used to be a thriving port, but these days, it relies heavily on muscle fishing and the tourist industry to stay afloat.
We got lost walking around town, and ended up in tiny alleys, getting almost attacked by dogs and crows, and wondering if we would ever find the ship again.
While exploring, we ran into a the magnificent Cattedrale di San Cataldo, which is the oldest Apulian cathedral in the word. It was elevated to the dignity of Basilica in 1964. Can you see Pete walking out of the cathedral in the second pic? 😊
We were drawn to a restaurant named In Rada, which got hundreds of five-star reviews on Tripadvisor. The reviews were correct. This modern, fancy restaurant was hidden among very old architecture, and it overlooked a muscle fishing port. The food was the best we had on the entire cruise: fresh sea bream filleted in front of us and served with vegetable and potatoes. We enjoyed it so much we forgot to take pics, other than this one.
After eating, we found our way back to the ship. Thank God for GPS. It’s amazing that less than 20 years ago, all we needed was a map.