pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157626656209443/
10:15: Pretty uneventful day. Woke up around 8, had breakfast delivered to the room consisting of coffee, toast, and 2 delicious croissants.Since there's not all that much to do in Lecce, I didn't rush out. Around 9:30 I went to the Provincial Museum and I was literally the only person there. They turned on the lights for me. The place is free entry and i believe it has hurt the museum. The collection is just endless cases of old stuff, not really labeled, no descriptions given, parts of it are closed and empty, and no one visits. Such a shame; it could be great.
Then I wandered up and found the big castle. That was also strangely empty. there were a few rooms exhibiting the local craft of cartapesa, which is making figurines (mostly religious) out of paper mache. It's amazing stuff and again almost no one there.
Right behind the castle is the town's park, called public gardens. Since it was sunday morning a lot of families were going to/from church so it was quite fun to park it on a bench and just people-watch. this is quite a little park with gardens, a bar/cafe, two different playgrounds for kids, and a big fountain that was empty.
Wandered back into the town center and just browsed until lunch time. I got a rustico from La Rusticana, a bustling place on the main drag between two main squares. A rustico is basically puff pastry filled with cheese and tomato. It's a Leccese specialty. 1.50 euros of deliciousness. Then I went over to Natale and got a gelato and sat in the main square Piazza Sant'Oronzo and just people watched for a while.
Then as mid-afternoon came, the siesta started, everything closed, and the streets completely emptied again. with literally nothing to do I came back to the B&B for a while, then left around 5, wandered around and came back around 6, and then set out for dinner around 7:30. On the main street all these little vendors selling handmade goods set up every day. Unlike the immigrants hawking illegal crap, these people have badges and seem to always be in the same place. I bought a nice little pair of pearl earrings for 7 euros from one of them and then went to Nonna Tetti for dinner. I had a local specialty called ciceri e tria, which is hard to explain. basically it's wide flat handmade pasta, most of which is boiled normally but some of which is deep fried (think chinese food takeout crispy noodles?), and mixed with chick peas. Google for a picture :)
Sufficiently stuffed I came back to the B&B and now I just have to pack up to move on already. Tomorrow I join a tour of the highlights of Puglia!
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