Searching for the Caves

While we were in the tourist centre, located in the remnants of an old castle in Grottaglie, we were told of the caves nearby.  Puglia area is well known for its caves which hid many people over the years.  So, with map in hand we headed out of town in search of the Gravina di Riggio.  A few kilometres down the road we saw a sign to the caves and turned off the main road.

We drove and drove, passing by a spot that we thought might be 'the one'.  But, there was no sign or marker so on we drove, around corners, past grapevines, siding up against stone walls and pulling over tight to let the crazy Italian drivers pass on by.  Still, no sign of the caves.  So we drove to 'the wall', turned around and headed back.  We had passed a couple of men working in a field so we pulled over and I went to ask for directions, map in hand.  They discussed it for a moment and then started to give me directions, in very fast Italian and with lots of hand gestures.  They looked at me as they spoke louder and louder and repeated the same phrases over and over clearly seeing that I had not understood.  In all the talking and showing me turns in the road and ups and downs, using their hands, the work 'meter' came up.  So I asked, kilometres?  They shook their heads, no, no, no, no - METERS!  So, I knew we were close.  I hopped back in the car and we headed back down the road to where we thought they had been previously.  We pulled off the road as there was no parking area and went across to check it out.  This is how it looked from the road; 

As we got across the open field we could see the ravine with one cave clearly visible.  We were shocked that this was an area the tourist centre had sent us to, with no signage and NO safety warnings other than a sign that Bob was sure said, "Don't be stupid!".  We were so glad we had stopped.  This was a place that had housed families and individuals, all hiding for their own reasons.  Sometimes it was cultural or religious reasons and sometimes it was thieves and criminals.  We walked down into the rock a bit and could see numerous caves, some big enough to stand in and others just small spaces carved into the soft limestone.

We understood that in the tourist season there are actual busloads of people who come out here.  We wondered where they parked and whether or not they actually went down into the ravine.  However, we were glad we had persevered.  The promised rains began to fall so we got back in the car and headed off to Martina Franca, our afternoon destination.