Jay & Donna's Travel Blog

Sunday, May 20th -- I set the alarm for 6:15 am to have time to get ready for our ride to the train station this morning. Donna and I packed the night before so there was little to prepare for, but I'm glad we did. By the time we got downstairs, paid our hotel bill and had a bite to eat our ride to the station arrived. We had prepaid for tickets a few nights earlier so all we had to do was find our train and buy lunch to eat on the trip. It was a 5-1/2 hour train ride in first class. We nearly had the rail car to ourselves. Upon arrival in Lecce, we had thought that we would be met at the station, but after calling Silvestro, he suggested that we take a cab to our hotel, Suite 68. As we actually had arrived earlier than the staff at the hotel expected, there was no one there to let us in. After calling Silestro again he called the manager who let drove over to let us into our rooms.

Our Room at Suite 68

Silvestro walked over from the school to meet us and wait for the manager to arrive. He was born in the US of Italian immigrant parents, but moved to Italy over 20 years ago. On meeting him you would never guess from his speech that he was anyone other than a native American citizen. Turns out he was born in the U.S. and emigrated to Italy about 28 years ago, and has owned and run the school, The Awaiting Table, for the past nine years.

Our Room at Suite 8

One of his staff, Georgio, came over to take us on a short tour of Lecce before we returned to the hotel to get ready for our first dinner at the school. It was a lovely meal consisting of three kinds of pasta, a huge platter of five different cheeses, a chicken dish with olives, and several different wines starting with a white, two reds and a dessert wine. We ended with a dessert of fresh cherries, strawberries and a sweet wine reduction.