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Sunday in Brindisi, Puglia. I could say we sat by the seaside, fingers entwined and watched the sun rise over the Adriatic Sea. I could extoll how we casually strolled back to have breakfast as the sights and sounds of the city waking up intensifying around us. If I did, it would all be a lie. Alarm clocks are banned on Sunday mornings, and as a result we woke to a city already abuzz. That southern Europe rhythm; with two days in every one – one before the siesta and one after – is still eluding us. It doesn’t seem to matter that the April mid-day still isn’t that (or at all, really) hot, people have found a pace that works for them, whether always justified by climate or not.

So before lunch the streets are packed, certainly Corso Umberto I, which is the main drag in Brindisi that is a pedestrian zone for most of the daylight hours. Corso Umberto I isn’t paved with asphalt, however. Instead, in an almost ancient Roman manner, it’s paved with very light beige (sandstone?) pavers, polished by years of wear that make me feel as if I’m traipsing in someone’s bathroom and probably should have taken my shoes off before entering. In addition to being aesthetically appealing though, these pavers provided a, for me, unexpected safety feature: Where cars are allowed to drive, their tires make squeegee sounds as they turn on the almost glimmering stones, reinforcing the impression that I’m indoors and that the situation in the bathroom is rapidly getting out of hand.

Our late start worked to our advantage too as it translated to a 2pm lunch out and with diminishing crowds we had no problem getting a sea-side table at the still sparsely opened establishments. Brindisi is figuratively holding in its starting blocks, muscles taut, awaiting to spring into peak season. Unlike Scilla though, where the requisite construction was very apparent, Brindisi’s subsiding hibernation is more evident through seasonal closures and a woefully underwhelming public market. Oh, how we miss the Catania Fish Market…

To be fair though, our expectation of Brindisi was never that she would wow us. We booked a week here with the intention of using it as a Puglia hub to visit a number of other towns down on the heel of the boot almost out of spite. This is where tourist don’t really venture in large numbers, so that’s where we’ll go. So there. Tomorrow we’re heading to Lecce.

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While it was just a bit too much pizza to finish, she did not have the same issue with the beer.

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