5/16 After our day trip to the coast and all the walking we have been doing, it was time to relax and enjoy our rooftop terrace. We have gone out each morning for cafè and a brioche. Been walking around the town and found some things that just needed to be purchased – can’t imagine that! Sometimes you just walk into a shop and something screams at you to buy it and you really do like it. So that’s how I ended up with two purses and a few ceramic pieces. Hey, when you are on a beautiful trip as we are, you have to do a little shopping.

As we walk along we always find something unique. We were looking for the Roman Theater (teatro romano) and after much research learned it was no longer open. While that is partially true, we accidentally turned down an alley and found the teatro ruins. Yay, more ruins to look at and they were pretty cool. Actually, the theater is still used and it is open at certain times for tours but COVID has forced limitations. In fact, most museums, ruins, etc., require advanced reservations, masks, etc., if even open. But, it appears things are beginning to loosen up on some aspects of COVID restrictions.

On our way home we were walking down one of the many alleys back to our apartment when what do we see but a mason on a scaffold working on a renovation of one of the buildings. I couldn’t help myself, I had to watch him. His wife was there so I asked her if I could take his photo. Yes, so she called to him and he turned and let me take his photo. He was doing a beautiful job on the piece he was working. The detail was amazing but what I remembered was the fact that my grandfather (my mom’s dad) used to do this type of work so I was very much interested in watching this man work.

Later that evening Jim and I had gone for a walk and we saw him and his wife all dressed up and heading for dinner. I thought that was such a coincidence — and quite wonderful.

We went for another stroll and saw a shop that had cannoli shells in their window so it seemed like a good time for a cannoli. We called it brunch – it had ricotta filling and was topped with pistachio chips, boy was it good. The consistency wasn’t quite as creamy as what we have had in some of the other cities but the flavors sure were there.

Some days we don’t want a big meal so our lunch on one of these “relax” days was bread, prosciutto, olives, cheese and tomatoes. Excellent!

In case we forget, the terrazza on which we relax is not too shabby. The view is nice as well. That’s the bell tower at the Duomo in the background — provides some nice bell concerts at certain points of each hour!

A rather remarkable occurrence we experience early in the morning at sunrise for an hour or two and again in the evening around sunset is the activity of the starlings.

An aspect of our travels I may not have mentioned deals with coincidences. On our 2014, 2016 and now 2022 sojourns in Italy, at almost every location where we stayed, and some places we were simply visiting for a day, we have come across weddings and funerals. While we already hit the weddings and funerals “quota” weeks ago, there was a bride heading over to a church from her apartment just below our terrazza. And later that evening, or perhaps the next night, our evening passeggiata took us by a christening!

Now I, Jim, have to pass along another “travels” recurrence – Fran’s music men. Just about every one of her cousins up in Monteferrante, Abruzzo, which you’ll learn more about in a few days, play musical instruments and most play the accordion as one of those instruments. In our travels, Fran always seems to come across a suonatore di fisarmonica, or accordion musician. There was one in Sicily, maybe two, and here’s the guy she glommed onto here in Lecce. For all those young, svelte carabinieri and pompiere she ogles around town (police officers and firemen,) her musicians are more my age and appearance! But they play well. This fellow played us a few Abruzzese songs, making Fran feel at home.

This morning after our caffè, we were walking back to the apartment after having shipped a box of my exquisite purchases home and found that Castello Carlo V was open so we walked in to check it out. Nothing much there at all; lots of the area was being fixed up and was blocked off so you really couldn’t go to much of it. Not a problem, at least we saw some of it so I could post a photo and there were even more ruins being excavated inside the walls.

Tomorrow we leave Lecce and head to Mattinata for an evening at a hotel before heading to San Salvo Marina on Wednesday for three days. We will be doing a lot of walking but are slowing it down a little so we don’t totally wear ourselves out. And once away from San Salvo Marina, we will be up in the mountains more in the Abruzzo region.