Blogs from Lecce, Apulia, Italy, Europe

Today I’ve booked an hour and a bit’s train ride south to the city of Lecce, which I’ve often seen referred to as The Florence of the South. I follow the crowd from the station towards the “Centro Histórico”. First impressions are that it doesn’t seem quite as pristine as Florence, but there’s certainly no shortage of buildings with intricately carved facades. I think I remember Florence as having a pedestrian-only zone in its historic centre, but if there’s one of those here no one seems to be taking a lot of notice - cars charging headlong up narrow alleyways packed with pedestrians. It feels like it’s only a matter of time until there’s carnage. I hope the city’s got good ambulances, and lots of them. I’m glad Issy isn’t here. First stop is the Piazza ... read more

Oh, what a difference an evening makes. After the traumas of the day all was forgotten last evening as Lecce (and Italy) comes alive in the evening. People just come out of the stonework from 8pm. We are in the most magnificent location, exactly between the old and new town. We strolled the old town, settled on a place for a pre-dinner drink and then sought out a restaurant for a tasty Italian dinner. We had no regrets with our choices, restaurant or food. Today we decided to not drive anywhere. It was walk, explore and appreciate, “Florence-of-the-south”, Lecce. We took in nearly every street of the old town, photographing doors, windows, people, streets, buildings, paths, door knockers, plants, sites of interest, churches, archways, the old town ‘gates’ (entry points), walls, entrances and more. We stopped ... read more

We had a fabulous day today visiting the towns of Alberobello and Ostuni, with a swim in the Adriatic in between! We were up earlier this morning, ready to leave at 8:30. We planned on scrambled eggs with our leftover mushrooms and cheese, but the stovetop was acting up, so we had yogurt and toast instead, plus excellent strong coffee made in the electric espresso maker. We headed out on the drive to Alberobello, which is about 1 1/2 hrs away, through olive groves (some diseased and some newly planted), and lots of prickly pear cactus and vineyards. This area, Salento, is quite dry and flat. As we approached Alberobello the olive groves were much healthier and lush. The drive as we approached Alberobello was very pretty, much more lush and hilly. Alberobello is a very ... read more

Greetings from Lecce, Italy! We had a nice breakfast in Hotel Slavija yesterday morning, with Jim and Lois, who were heading out to the airport later that day, then we walked to the bus depot to get the airport shuttle bus to the Split airport. It was a beautiful warm sunny morning. We passed a Split sign we hadn’t seen before so I hopped in front for a quick photo. The bus left on time and we had a pleasant 45 min or so ride to the airport. We breezed through security and passport control at the airport, and were hoping to find a place for an Aperol spritz before our flight, but it turned out there was just one little kiosk with food and drink after security, so we had a Croatian beer instead. The ... read more

So, the bike ride starts. Our itinerary is good with an assortment of terrain and scenery. The region of Italy is the heel of Italy, known as Apulia. We have more than 350 k's to ride and this time round we are all using E Bikes. Our intention is not to set any records, to take in all the sites with numerous stops for coffee/ refreshments. We started our ride in Alberobllo, riding to Ostuni. A good ride for the first up. Next was Ostuni to Avetrana. A longer ride and we were thankful for the e bikes. Then Avetrana to Gallipoli, Gallipoli to Leuca, Leuca to Otranto, and finally Otranto to Lecce. So 6 days biking up some high hills, along some cycle tracks, but mainly on some roads, some with little traffic but some ... read more