Devil Gate Drive (Lecce)

Time to slow down a little, dear reader. It's all well to travel a country, but there comes a time when that journey needs to be more moderately paced. After all, that is why I booked a minimum 4 night stay everywhere except Rome and Florence, both places we have previously visited.

Today we were attempting to find a supermarket and a bakery and somewhere to have our daily coffee and pastry. Google suggested a piazza roughly between us and the old town. The rain had gone, but the wind had not and the forecast temperature was only 20° without the wind chill.

Piazza Mazzini, recommended by Google, has a massive fountain in the centre and was surrounded by banks, as far as we could see. Or designer stores. We ventured down one side street to find more of the same and no café or supermarket. Not to worry, we turned towards the old town and walked down the corso, lined with expensive stores and an anomalous McDonalds. The cancer is everywhere.

Big piazza, big fountain, big disappointment.

Back in the old town, we searched for a café that was a little protected from the wind and had tables in the sun. We found one in the south-east corner, aptly titled the South-East Café. The coffee was good but they had no croissants or brioche left. We would have to wait until later for sustenance.

I wanted to walk around the town just inside the walls but this proved to be impossible. There was not one road to circumnavigate old Lecce. Alora, I settled for walking to the three gates. The fourth was destroyed at some point and built over. Unusual.

Porta Napoli.

Unfortunately the first gate on our list, Porta Napoli, had us following a school excursion of 14 year olds. It appears 'boy behaviour' is the same the world over. Who'd be a high school teacher?

The gate is plain on the inside and decorated on the outside. Just beyond it, in the real world, is an obelisk.

The obelisk.

The next gate, Porta Rudiae, was not far away, down some reasonably quiet streets, in the university section of the old town. There were still cafés and restaurants and small shops, selling Lecce crafted materials, but the crowds and tour groups were missing. One had material hanging between the buildings and was decorated with fairy lights. It would be quite the picture at night.

A side street.

We also came a cross a doorway that had prickly pear, fico d'India, hanging from the metal frame. I'm uncertain why. It is the fruit that is eaten not the leaves.

I'm not sure what's going on here.

Porta Rudiae was the entrance closest to the university of the arts and was different in style to Porta Napoli. The decorative façade faced out to greet visitors.

What happened here? On the wall of the University of the Arts.

Porta Rudiae.

Thoughts of a birra became stronger as the day wore on but I was mindful that we had not eaten. As we walked towards our third gate, we passed a trattoria that sold traditional Lecce dishes. Clotilde had recommended it yesterday. They also sold alla spina, draught beer. Bonus. Deciding which version of pucce to have was not easy until the owner recommended the 'pucce of the day' caramelised onion, zucchini flowers, mozzarella, speck and other things I can no longer recall. It was absolutely delicious.

The final door was Porta San Biagio and we meandered our way there, only following a mapped course as we neared the gate itself. You never know what you'll find wandering the lanes and streets of an old town. The Duomo often appeared above the other buildings acting as a focal point and guide, helping us to re-orient ourselves.

Porta San Biagio.

The final gate checked off, we walked to a nearby supermarket to buy the supplies we couldn't get earlier in the day. We walked in and walked out. Let's say that the proprietors weren't Italian and no-one from Lecce would be spruiking the quality of the produce on sale here.

Back home and back to Google. Our afternoon excursion proved to be more fruitful (see what I did there?). It directed us to another supermarket and bakery. Curiously, it was the one we were sent to in the morning in Piazza Mazzini, except this time the map brought us in the other end, straight past the boulangerie to the Coop. In our morning exploration we had opted to check out the other side of the piazza. 

Coop was the first stop. I have found a new favourite brand of chips, San Carlo 1936 or San Carlo Rustica. Either will do. They are excellent.

The Boulangerie has a cheese and charcuterie counter as well as pastries and breads. This is where we will come for breakfast. All we needed for tonight was some cheese to go with the left over pizza and wine we had already purchased. Happy days!

OK. So we hit all the gates. Isn't that enough to go all Suzi? Devil Gate Drive Come on, you know you want to.

Wednesday

Breakfast was at the Boulangerie. The people were so lovely and welcoming and we appeared to be the only ones who were not local. The doppio was excellent. I had a strudel which was delicious and Jayne had a pasticciotto, an apple and cinnamon filled traditional Lecce cake. I'll be trying that tomorrow.

Back into the old town, we went to the Castle of Charles V. Eventually. The access roads to it were being excavated with bull dozers this time, no trowels (yet), so we had a round-a-bout walk to get there. The next tour was 11:30am so we purchased tickets and burnt some time back in the main square.

The new statue of Sant'Oronzo.

The reviews on Google were quite mixed. A couple of patrons had a sook about the fact that the guide spoke only Italian and the non-Italian speakers were forced to use an audio guide. The other issue was that you could only access the interesting places on a tour. Obviously some areas were being protected.

The original statue, protected from the weather.

Today was the first day I walked out of the apartment with out my ear buds. If I'd had them, we could have listened to the guide who provided more in depth information. Without them it was audio guides and ear phones for us.

The tour itself was interesting and much of the castle is a work in progress where careful excavation continues. Like many of the buildings in Lecce, it is a celebration of many different eras, medieval, renaissance and baroque. Parts of it have been built over or around and it was altered to the tastes of whoever was ruling the day.

The original doorway has been altered for an upstairs addition.

A fresco in a side hall.

The dungeon was probably one of the more interesting stops. Complete with graffiti from its occupants, in fact one carved a letter about his unjust imprisonment. It reminded us of our tour of the castle in Cognac many years ago.

I'd put my coat of arms on the ceiling too. If I had one.

I'm innocent, exclaimed Victor.

Castle tour done, well not quite. The last stop was a papier mâché museum. Yes, you read that correctly. They take the art/craft very seriously here. Here are some photos. Without comment. Or smirks.

It was time to check out the inside of the Basilica Santa Croce and the Duomo with its crypt. No access without a ticket. €22 for the two of us to visit 5 churches and a museum. Happily, we do not have to do all of this in one day as the entry ticket remains valid for two weeks. We will split our visits over the remaining two days, because we can.

I am not sure how many more times a church can deliver the wow factor, dear reader. I have seen a few in my time, but today they both did. The numerous side altars with staggering Baroque decorative detail, the paintings, the papier mâché figurines, the carved ceilings with inlaid frescoes. The exterior façades prepare you for what you will see inside but the Basilica and the Cathedral are also quite different. 

The Cathedral has a lot more colour with stained glass windows and gold guilt edging on its side altars where Santa Croce is more monochrome, relying on the Lecce Baroque carving for its wow factor, with the exception of the centre piece behind the main altar.

Where they believe they have a relic of the cross of Jesus.

A side altar.

The main altar.

The ceiling.

The Duomo also has its crypt which features fairly unadorned walls and arches but has grills in the floor to see the excavations below including ossuaries, and multiple pairs of glasses that people have lost when they have obviously leaned over too far to have a good look. Rather weird looking down at skulls lying alongside name brand sunnies ...

Sorry, I missed the sunnies.

A side altar.

The main altar.

The Last Supper. On the ceiling.

I'd just like to point out that the Last Supper on the ceiling of the Duomo has people seated on both sides of the table. I'm sure it's much easier to get a booking that way. Imagine asking for a table that seats 13 all facing the artist?

The crypt.

The crypt had four arms.

Our touristing almost complete for today, we returned to the Duomo Piazza to go back to the wonderful store we had visited with Clotilde two nights ago. Here we purchased the delectable limoncello balls and some more Puglia wine and then, happily it was birra time at a sunny table in another piazza before heading home with our purchases. 

Curiously every time we were assailed by dodgy non-Italian hawkers, they spoke to us in French. I'm not sure if that is to represent what they see as the dominant language of visitors, or if we suddenly look Gallic. I mean, I have opted for a hat rather than a cap. 

Dinner tonight was at the restaurant that Clotilde recommended on our first night, Osteria Vecchia. Happily it was open tonight. Unhappily a very large tour group had booked out the inside restaurant. The less said about that the better. 

We could eat outside or find somewhere else. It wasn't that cold, except for the breeze, so we opted for an outside table. We sat and watched as more and more people were turned away. It was particularly gratifying when some marched to the door and expected to be seated and were not.

The food was excellent. And, yes, it was very cold outside due to the breeze.

Alla prossima.