In Lecce (a photo gallery)

April 16, 2023

The social highlight of the day was our lunch date with our favorite traveling companions (each other), at an upscale fish restaurant. It’s worth remembering one of our favorite meals of the tour:

Pistachio crusted salmon, grilled eggplant, roasted potatoes. All great.

We went out for lunch after having spent the morning taking advantage of a more generous break in the weather than either of us had expected - long enough that had we known of it in advance, we could have stayed in Otranto last night and biked today after all. It worked out better this way anyway though, giving us such fine weather for yesterday’s ride and more time for a good look at Lecce this morning - for me anyway, because Rachael spent her break on a brisk ten mile walk.

We really enjoyed our stay in Galatina several days back, charmed by the attractions of a small town our hosts described as a ‘little Lecce’ but without the crowds. Now that we’ve refreshed our memories of the real Lecce though, there’s no comparison and it’s obvious why Lecce draws the crowds in to marvel at its assemblage of Baroque masterpieces. The assertion reminds me of all the places with an urban canal or two that bill themselves as a Little Venice. And if you get out in the morning anyway and maybe arrive outside peak season, the crowds aren’t really bad at all.

In the Giardinello Pubblici: shades of green.

In the Giardinello Pubblici, approaching the historical center.

Chiesa Del Grus o del Buonconvento Consiglio.

In Lecce. On the right is the Place of Justice.

A crowd assembles on the Piazza Duomo, waiting for Sunny morning service to end at noon. I’m not sure those dogs will be welcome even then though.

Three old guys standing around, Piazza Duomo.

The mail slot makes it. Otherwise, it’s just another old palace portal.

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	7
Comment on this entry	Comment	1

Keith AdamsI don't recall which religious edifice they're in, but one of them contains a collection of bones of martyrs killed by the Turks way back when. You remarked a day or two ago about fears of a Turkish invasion and they weren't unfounded: one of the martyr's skulls showed an "X" of about a dozen holes that had been bored into it, presumably when the owner was still in residence and without benefit of modern surgical steel or anesthesia.
Reply to this comment
1 year ago