The adventure continues! And after a month, we definitely find ourselves, finally, on “Salento Time.” Salento is this area in the very south of the heel of the boot. I get the sense that it is from Lecce on down to the tip of the heel. Last night (Monday), which is a very quiet night in the city, we had planned to go to dinner, but found the restaurant closed. We found a great many shops closed yesterday. We thought it might be a holiday, but learned that no, it was just Monday. So, finding ourselves with time on our hands, we wandered into the Joyce Irish Pub for a half-pint of Guinness (not wanting to spoil what we believed would be our dinner out). Once we discovered the restaurant closed, we strolled about to see if our second or third choices might be open. Not to be. So, we headed back to Il Portico, our little wine/snack bar. We had been there for lunch in the afternoon (a quite good rustic pizza with tuna) and had presented our favorite cameriera, Paolina, with a gift.
Il Portico had gone to putting oil lamps on the tables, but Paolina was using a standard Bic lighter and usually burning her fingers. So, while browsing the immigrant flea market, we picked up this barbecue source of fire! Even the honor came out to thank us for our regalo (gift). In fact, Sunday evening, he bought us our drinks! He was a tough nut to crack, but our perseverance seems to have paid off.
However, Monday night, Paolina was done for the day, so we had a wonderful conversation with a most delightful Italian gal, Sylvia. She is originally from Bergamo in the north, but had come south to work as a kind of village nanny for 5 months and had been at Il Portico for the last year. She has quite a bit of English (although a little rusty) and between my growing Italian vocabulary and her English, we spent nearly an hour chatting (I said business was slow!). She told us the mythical tale of the dance the Tarantella which comes from this region, along with some of her life story. It was such fun.
I did grab this photo of her as we left to go home and fix our own dinner at about 10 p.m.
As I am sure you are gathering if you have tuned in regularly, it really is about the people. That is what we enjoy. Sightseeing is nice from time to time, we love watching the regular people go about their daily lives and when possible we truly treasure our time in direct contact.
Sunday evening was the last of the Jazz at Shui Wine Bar. We had been going to these most Sundays, but as this was the last of the season, it was a real blowout and everyone was in a celebratory mood.
Sebastiano, his partner Francesca (on the left) and their accountant, Elizabetta, who serves as a bartender for these events, all greeted us with open arms as we arrived.
We got chatty with the bartender for the evening, John Luca, who also had a bit of English.
Our real find at this place has been Mario. Mario is an artist and lived as a chef and restaurant manager in London for 15 years. He has very good English and has taken us under his wing since nearly the first day we arrived in Lecce. He is now the chef for Shui Wine Bar, but Sunday night he was there to party. He shared his bottle of champagne with Polley
and we managed to catch him with another Francesca, the waitress there, and Polley.
While I didn’t get a picture of it, Sebastiano presented us with “Shui Loves You” t-shirts (magliette) that all the staff were wearing. I think this means we are members of the club for life! We made plans to all go to dinner in a week or so and will look forward to that. All in all, it was a great evening and it was past 11 (Salento time) when we staggered home.
Earlier that evening, we did manage to catch a couple of more weddings. I think we saw 6 that day.
Part of the tradition is to come to Piazza Santa Croce, regardless of where you are married, and have your picture taken. I caught this ceremony actually happening at Santa Croce.
This other couple also came to Santa Croce, but I caught them in the Piazza Sant’Oronzo, where this clown popped in to provide them with a balloon heart.
Also enjoy the rickshaw/bicycles that people motor about the town
Tuesday was laundry day. As we headed out, Polley wanted me to catch the inviting view from our front door.
Believe it or not, it is a chore that we truly look forward to. First of all, someone else actually does the laundry while we sit at a sidewalk café with a glass of wine (or two) and wait for our things to be done. Delightful. Today was of particular delight, as the weather seems to be taking a turn for the better and we sat outside in the sunshine.
Tomorrow, with the promise of a clear day, we are renting a car and heading down to Otranto, a town that is to the south of us on the Adriatic coast. We are trying to build in some day trips each week, now that the sun seems to shining on a regular basis. Hopefully, we will have more to report on Thursday. Wishes us luck on the Italian highways.
Ed and Polley
No comments:
Post a Comment