Very small church, named for St. Mark; note Lion of Venice;
Column from the end of the Appian Way, given to Lecce in the 1500's;
Roman amphitheatre;
Our suite!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Ciao! And Happy December to all! (If anyone at is interested, we called a truce to “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit” for this month, so don’t ask me who won last night!)
Woke up to a nice, breezy morning in Brindisi. R had some Caltech work to do, which apparently he’d been thinking about since 2 a.m., so he went downstairs to purchase two more hours of internet access (2 Euros). As breakfast wasn’t really worth worrying about, I went down without him, so he could finish up. I was ready to go around 8. However, our first real problem on this trip happened then! The TV set in the room was wall-mounted … over the desk … and have to say, that as I’m known far and wide as the klutzy member of the partnership – Robert did a “Margaret” – big time. As he was leaning over to unplug the computer – ka-bam!! And wow, heads do bleed quite a bit, don’t they?! Took us quite a while to staunch the bleeding – really a mess, and in addition to a nice scrape, he has quite a deep head laceration. Fortunately, his head is also pretty hard, and some Neosporin seemed to help quite a bit … can’t wait until he tries to wash his head tomorrow…
Got on the road to Lecce – only to find out that it is only something like 40 miles from Brindisi! And, as we were heading for a B&B, I was a bit concerned about arriving WAY too early! However, on we pushed. Figured if we could just drop the luggage, we could find something to in town. So…drove into Lecce at rush-hour; and boy, do they have traffic here! But a truly beautiful little city! Very baroque, with lots of interesting things to see. Got here around 10; pulled up across the street while R looked for the address…the problem with B&B’s is that they rarely have lots of signs pointing the way!
Turns out l’Orangerie d’Epoque is in a BEAUTIFUL old palazzo right off the main street! You open the double doors and the car drives right in – may not drive out again ever, but it was a start! Absolutely INCREDIBLE lady owns the house, and we have our own SUITE! HUGE room, divided into entry way, living room, TV room, kitchen/eating area, and bedroom – plus bath! Very, very beautiful and comfortable! And all at 90 Euros a night!!
We moved things in, then decided to head into town to look around. Our block is one of the main streets surrounding the city, and across it is the “old town” – a jumble of wonderful streets; beautiful shops and squares and churches…apparently there are some 40 in the immediate area alone! Headed first to the information office, where our map was gone over and things suggested; very helpful. However, it was now 11 a.m. and, like Brindisi, EVERYTHING closes in this town from noon to 4 or 5! Even the churches!! Oh well!!
Went first to the old Roman amphitheatre (I know we said we’d finished with the road, but those old Romans just keep popping up everywhere!). Also saw the second column that ended the Appian Way at Brindisi – a gift to Lecce after their patron saint helped spare Brindisi from the plague in the 1500’s! Found a place for a sit-down and drink while we went over the map and guidebook. (Note: They are setting up for a MAJOR concert in this square tonight – forget the name of the singer, but R doubts that it’s classical…quite a production!) Wandered a bit, finding the second Roman theatre and the beautiful Duomo, and finally headed into a restaurant for lunch. Both had pizza – R margarita and mine had tomato, cheese and eggplant – YUM! When we came out from lunch, it was absolutely POURING out!! And I mean really coming down! We figured the best thing to do would be to head back to the flat for a rest – and hopefully the rain would let up!
Up again around 3:30 and decided to go to the provincial museum down the street – apparently the ONLY thing that doesn’t close from 12 noon to 4! It re-opens at 2:30! So, schlepped down the street – probably half-mile or so, in the pouring rain to the museum. Again, we were the ONLY people there – but at least they had most of the lights on before we got there! A really wonderful collection!! Archeological finds from all over the area, including Egnazia, where we went yesterday. We saw some really unique pieces; found a pot that I would LOVE to take home!! And boy, did it POUR while we were inside! (And unfortunately the museum roof leaks, and there were buckets to watch out for…) By the time we finished with the museum, the rain had stopped, and there were big patches of blue sky overhead! What amazing weather! We walked back through town, tried to visit an open church or two – but it’s REALLY hard to see things in the DARK, but as R says, if it’s just us…and retraced out way back to the flat. By now, the heat was on, and it’s VERY comfortable! It was never really cold at all today; very temperate, in fact; just DAMP!
We absolutely LOVE our place, AND Lecce! Both incredible! My only worry, though, is that this place is SO big, and there’s so much stuff in it, that it would be easy to forget something – so we’re trying really hard to keep things together, to make it easier for us to pack up!!
Not much more for the moment! We’re debating if we can face dinner tonight … I think a Magnum Classic would be just fine, but R does have his standards!!
More later!
Much love!
m
Editor’s Note: We did go for a stroll last night, but NOT to look for food! We are still SO full of wonderful food from the past several weeks, that we may never eat again! Rather, we went looking for an internet café – and of course it wasn’t there (Lonely Planet slips up!). Got directions from someone in a store to another site, and it wasn’t there either! So, have decided to wait until we get to Matera tomorrow to post M & T.
However, I did get my Magnum Classic for dinner, and along with cookies and juice in the flat, we did just fine!
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