Tuesday, May 22nd -- Silvestro arranged for us to have a tour of the old city with Timothy, an English journalist and art historian living in Lecce. Timothy was as delightful a character as the sites were interesting to visit. His knowledge of the area was both impressive and entertaining. While what we see dates principally to the 17th century and later, the area's history far predates what is visible. Ruins of a Roman amphetheaterare being restored in the center of town are prominently displayed, and Timothy informed us that the history of the city dates much further back, well before both the Romans and the Greeks with records of a people called the Mesapians (who also had a distinct language).

Timothy at Ampheatheater

Roman Ampheatheater

Timothy dropped us off at the school near 1:00 pm where lunch had already been prepared -- spaghetti with garlic, parmasean, and olive oil; a baked 3 kg chicken baked served with a "vin cotta" (the highly thickened sauce made from a wine reduction), and some vegetables.  Served with wine of course. We ended with fresh cantelope.  After resting before meeting once again for dinner, we went shopping for dinner, entirely vegetarian. While I made crepes for our dessert, we prepared a ton of veggies for grilling, a swiss chard like green that was boiled, and a pruree of fava beens. Silvesstro gave us a lesson on wines, and we had a tasting of two different wines served in different types glasses. Turns out the both wines (Italian red) were from the same bottle, but only Sharona guessed that they were the same wine -- they tasted so different based on the glasses they were served in.

We finished early last night (before 10:00 p.m.)  I'm working hard at keeping up with this blog, but it is getting to be a bit difficult as the days are really getting long.