I am currently in Lecce, Italy until February 20th (more on that later) but haven’t updated in a while and have some photos of Glasgow prior to my trip:
Burns night supper and ceilidh at GSA with haggis, neeps and tatties (for reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burns_night)
Now back to Italy. After 3 flights (Edinburg>Paris>Rome>Brindisi) last Sunday, I arrived here in Lecce. I am participating in an intensive program in Climate and Sustainability in Urban Environments, which is completely funded by the EU. Honestly, the journey was exhausting but Lecce is a beautiful city and they have been feeding us like royalty with incredible food and wine so I can’t complain.
Edinburg>Paris
Can you spot the windmills?
Paris>Rome
The sun was so bright and began to cast this yellowish tint on the water – never seen anything like it from the air
Rome>Brindisi
Made it.
First dinner at the hotel : maccherioncini
Lecce (not as warm as it looks..snowed the first day!)
Universita del Salento
Stumbled upon this cool antique market
Breakfast room at the hotel
Pasticciotti leccesi con espresso – pasticciotti are a local treat only made in Lecce – crisp yet very delicate crust filled with warm vanilla custard – amazing!
Roof of the school (used to be a monastery!)
This is a Roman amphitheater where animals used to fight (no gladiators in Lecce) and it held over 10,000 people. It was buried until it was discovered in the 1930s but half of it remains buried because they wouldn’t demolish the church that was built on top of it.
Paper mâché is one of the local crafts of Lecce
Santa Croce (I think)
Napoleon pizza – love this oven setup
Cappuccino con biscotti
Site visit
Privately owned stone quarry (no longer in use, obviously)
Amazing Greek dinner
Believe it or not, we actually do some things not related to food
…then we get back to the food.
The restaurant at our hotel is delicious.
Orchiette con pomodori
Pollo
Gelato
Yesterday we had an incredible day trip. We first went to Gallipoli on the west coast of Salento (the region of Italy we are in), on the Ionian Sea and also to Otrantro on the east coast on the Adriatic.
Eating sea urchins at the fish market in Gallipoli
The local stone of Gallipoli is very unique and is made partially of crushed shells
Ionian Sea – it really is that blue, no photoshop needed!
Driving to Otranto
Thermal baths on the Adriatic (closed for the season)
Then we had a four-course lunch on a farm where all the cheese/vegetables/meat is grown/made. Amazing.
Appetizers
Chickpeas & chicory
Maccheroni
Pork & potatoes
Cake with fruit
After the epic meal, we got off the bus on the side of the highway to check out another abandoned quarry – the color of the water in these photos barely does it justice
Finally arrived in Otranto
We had dinner last night at our hotel, and even ended up at a carnivale party (conveniently also in our hotel)
Today was a much needed lazy day around Lecce
Arancino (rice ball) and espresso with almond milk
View from the hotel, (light) dinner at the hotel
As with other trips, I’ve gotten a lot of heat and jokes this week for my excessive photo-taking but I just can’t help it that everything is so beautiful and photogenic! It took me about four days to put this update together…time to mentally prepare myself (and my stomach) for week number two..