Lecce – easy on the eyes – even my injured one

We are down in Lecce (population 95,000) now with our Road Scholar group. There’s 19 of us and I always feel it’s important to make a good initial impression and so – to stand out from the masses, I poked myself in the eye on the train from Rome and Ron, at some point, looks over at me and says What happened to your eye?, using the same kind of emphatic voice he uses to point out a car accident or roadkill.

And so I got to present myself to our group with an eye that is 50% completely red and, wouldn’t you know it, we ended up having dinner with a retired ophthalmologist, who noticed my eye and the broken blood vessels (diagnosis: subconjunctival hemorrhage), but didn’t seem concerned about it so I feel like I added some value to my Road Scholar tour in the form of a free (New patient – limited) office visit.

Lecce is known for ornate and detailed Baroque architecture but it has an additional unique attribute. Lecce’s Baroque buildings are made of Lecce stone – la pietra leccese – a softer and more malleable type of limestone. The stone is easier to carve and then hardens with exposure to air and weather elements. The result is a fairy tale town, full of exquisitely decorated honey limestone buildings. Here’s a few specifically Baroque shots from our initial wanderings:

Below is the Basilica Santa Croce, completed in 1695:

But Lecce is charming beyond its Baroque. Look at these streets:

And then this mix of Baroque and…less Baroque:

But there is more to Lecce than architecture. These pasticciotto pastries are everywhere. They taste kind of like madeleines with a bit of filling (picture not mine):

In the main square, there are people handing out samples of taralli – little crackers that come in a ton of flavors – mostly savory, but a few sweet ones. I am aware these look like dog biscuits but they’re really good:

And there’s even this street musician, who might want to see if there’s any other (more portable) instruments he can play. He was booted from this spot while we were standing with our Road Scholar guide, Emanuela, discussing something Baroque. And then Emanuela was done and ready to move on and I missed getting to see where he went with his piano and losing out on moments like this is one of the things you compromise on while on a group tour.

Now that we are with Road Scholar, the elaborate meals are back. For our first lunch, we were served this pasta dish called Ciceri e tria. It’s fresh pasta, mixed with deep fried pasta, mixed with garbanzo beans. It’s fabulous…best thing I’ve eaten so far on the trip:

Tomorrow we head out on the bus to see other small villages and I’ll talk to you after that.