Lecce and Ostuni

LECCE

Well, after our wasted day going back to get our camera, we rose extra early on the 28th of December and decided to go down south a bit more to the town of Lecce, which is known as the 'Florence of the South.'  Since we haven't been to Florence yet, I have no idea if this is an accurate description, but our interest was piqued, so we hopped in the car yet again and made our way to Lecce.
Lecce is known for its Baroque style...which translates to "very intricate" and "overworked" in some cases. Also found here are lots of Roman ruins.

 Roman amphitheater, with presepe (Nativity scene).

   

Another view of the amphitheater.  It was fun explaining to Norah that this is what the Romans did for entertainmen. ("What do you mean they didn't have TV's???")

 Love locks by the amphitheater. I also explained the tradition around these: lovers bring them to an important or meaningful place, and hook the lock to something.  Their love should last as long as the lock is there.  We (Chiara and James) saw these in many places in China when we were there many years ago.  Now, we are also seeing them here and there in Italy.

Just walking around the Roman theater.

 Chiara and kids in a piazza in Lecce. This was taken around 1 p.m., when, as in most Italian cities, everything shuts down for the "pausa" and the town seems deserted.

 Front of a church in Lecce.

 

Front of the main basilica in Lecce.  Under construction, but you can see the (very) intricate carvings on the facade.

OSTUNI

After Lecce, we still had some daylight left, so we decided to see another "white city," the city of Ostuni, on the way back to our place.  Ostuni is built on a bluff, and the buildings here are made primarily of white limestone. On the way there, we passed many many (many!) fields of olive trees.  These trees seem ancient (look at the trunks...they are very big). Later, we found out from some people we met in Ostuni that it is actually illegal to cut down an olive tree in Puglia.  If one wants to build something like a road or building, one has to carefully dig up the olive trees and plant them in a new place (always in Puglia).

 Olive trees in the afternoon.

 Approaching Ostuni, the White City.

 "Street" in Ostuni.  Not very car (or stroller) friendly!

 The afternoon view from the top of Ostuni. See the trees down there? ALL olive trees...all the way to the beach (where the dark blue is).

 Family band in Ostuni.  Sorry about your head, James...you gotta work with what you're given, and all of our family shots had some of your head missing!

As we were leaving Ostuni, I looked back and saw the sunset light hitting the old part of the city.  I screamed for James to pull over so I could get a picture from the car.

OK, in the next post, we will show you some trulli, which is what we came to Puglia to see!!!