LECCE DAY SEVEN

Awoke to blue skies, so we hurried off to our favourite wee cafe for our last breakfast (I don’t think we’ll have time tomorrow). Pancakes again for me, and fruit, granola and yoghurt for JR. And a croissant. They were playing great music, sort of ‘Singing Detective’ old time stuff. (Cafe is bottom right in extra).

Once fortified, we set off past the Duomo, past the Roman amphitheatre, and on to the park, where we sat and watched people walking by for quite some time.

We came across the most amazing church in the whole town - the Basilica di Santa Croce. There are many ornate baroque churches in Lecce, but this one was spectacular, so just as well we came upon by accident… (Extra 2)

There are many famous churches here, each one more ornate than the last one. You can buy an entry ticket for all of them, but we didn’t bother, preferring to go into the numerous other, less famous, (free) churches. 

We just wandered round a few wee windy streets (Extra) then JR recognised where she was - near a gelatria that she’d already discovered, so I was lured onwards for a seat and an ice cream. (7,240 steps) it’s been about 25° today - most pleasant. 

We had a wee last wander out this evening, and had a puccia sandwich, and wished we’d shared it - it was huge. Full of smoked salmon, burrata and rocket. Then we walked along the road and had a coffee in our favourite breakfast cafe. (CafeFlow - they’re on Instagram) The music tonight was the whole of the Beatles ‘Help’ album - how good was that! The manager came to say cheerio, and the waitress. 

We have a fairly early start tomorrow, but after the long, fairly stressful journey from Bari airport, we’ve splashed out on a taxi direct transfer from here. The airport trains are so infrequent, we’d have to leave here before the crack of dawn to get to Bari, to then get to the airport. Too much stress!

It’s been a wonderful week. Lecce is the perfect place for a holiday!