Last Day in Lecce...Euro2006(05.26.06)

Friday was our last full day in Lecce. Alberto had to go to work for a while so Stefano picked us up and we ended up going to the Alfa Romeo dealership with him (he had ordered a car and was checking up on it).

Emily and I had to wait with him at the dealership for a while. I think the receptionista was getting a little tired of us. But you can't stick two girls in a room with expensive things for an extended period of time and not expect us to touch them. We got a great picture of Yoda on the hood of the red car in the top picture.

When Alberto was finished on base, we drove to the beach. I was so impressed by the fact that each one we went to was 30-45 minutes from Lecce, yet all three were completely different.

On the way, we stopped to take pictures of this breathtakingly lifelike statue of an ancient Grecian goddess...... ....oh wait, no that's just me....

This was such a cool spot. Take a second to really look at the next picture.

The blue post to the far right of the picture is part of a gateway (locked) to a set of stairs. These stairs wind down to the platform you see just to the left of the post in the picture. See the people laying out? The stairs continue winding down to the water where the rocks form a natural pool.
Alberto was hoping no one would be there so we could walk down to it, because apparently it's privately owned. Lucky bastards! It was so easy to imagine gorgeous, wealthy Romans in long flowing robes and those really cool gold headband things and spiraly arm bracelets walking down to bathe in their natural pool by the sea...


This is a close up of the rocks just down the rocky beach from us. There's a guy standing by himself on the rocks down by the sea on the left side of the picture (think I could get anymore prepositions in that sentence?). We weren't worried about him falling in because luckily....

...we had a Power Ranger with us!! Alberto drove Emily and I everywhere, and Max and Stefano always followed (or rather, raced ahead) on their motorcycles. If you're still wondering, that's his helmet resting on his head.

The third beach was really pretty and very rocky.

I have to admit it was difficult to find a flat enough spot to lay out on where there wasn't a rock jutting in some place it shouldn't be.

But it was a beautiful day, and I just wanted to soak up every second of my last day in Lecce.

Emily and I decided we had to jump from the rocks into the water before we left. So we walked to the edge (I don't think it was more than 5 or 6 feet to the water. We weren't cliff diving or anything.)...anyway, we walked to the edge, held hands, counted to three...and jumped.

The shock from the freezing cold water actually numbed my body for a minute. It was really cool though, because you float so easily in the saltwater. You can basically just sit in the water.

That night we had dinner at the same restaurant we ate lunch at our first day in Lecce. We had a really nice time with everyone and it was a fitting end to a great week. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from dinner. Here's a few pictures of Lecce at night. I wasn't quite still enough so they're a little blurry, but it was a really nice evening.

I'll be forever grateful to Alberto and his friends for my unforgettable week in Lecce.

The next morning, we took the 6:30am train to Rome.