Andrea punctually picked me up from the train station in Lecce, I wasn’t surprise to learn that he lived and worked in Germany before for 5 years.

He was one of the many hosts I contacted in Salento, as well as his girlfriend Manuela who lived in a small town in the deep South of the region. They agreed to host me in Manuela’s house with her family. However, a week before my intended stay, they had to drive to France unexpectedly because her uncle who lived there was ill and went to the hospital. After receiving her message, I thought to myself; ‘Here I go, another uncertainty in life to keep my trip exciting.’ But she said she would be back before I arrived, and if I needed anything I should contact her boyfriend.

After talking to Andrea, he suggested that I should stay in Lecce with him for a few days first before going down to the deep South, and that was what I did.

I didn’t expect him to come and pick me up with his car, but then he explained that here almost everyone drive. First thing here that reminded me of home in Thailand.

He just moved to this apartment around a month or two ago, and said that it wasn’t quite ‘completed’ yet. The other bedroom was still used as a storage and I was sleeping on a sofa bed in the living room. Thought for me, this place was perfect, and so was its host.

Andrea was probably the most considerate host I have met. It was cleared that he had come in contacts with many cultures and seen the big difference between European and Asian cultures. So he was very careful and made it clear from the first day that if I felt uncomfortable with anything just let him know.

Little did he know that I was like a lizard that could adapt to its environment within a blink of an eye.

After a nice warm shower, I felt clean like a normal person again and we were ready to went out and explore Lecce at night.


Either because it was a Thursday night or the temperature dropped recently, Leccese people decided to stay home and left the streets pretty empty. But I loved it that way, Baroque architecture illuminated with yellow street lights was so charming. Andrea led me through the old town and told me some stories and history of this Baroque town before we sat down next to an outdoor heater of one of the bars. He ordered some food and wine for both or us (apparently I had no idea what was what.) I sipped a glass of Primitivo, a well-known local wine, and munched on frisellini, burrata, rockets and tomatoes with aromatic Pugliese extra virgin olive oil.



After 15 years of studying in Pisa, working in Germany and travelling through America and East Asia, he decided to come back and started his own business in Lecce. He used to organise Couchsurfing meeting here every week, which was where he met Manuela. Through out conversations over the table, we shared some travel stories and I could feel the mixture of Southern Italian and German in him. It quite a good combination of cultures actually.


The next morning, we went down to a bar under his flat and had a pasticiotto, a typical pastry from Lecce filled with cream, for breakfast. It was surprising good, warm and crispy on the edge, especially considering that this was just a neighbourhood bar and the closest one to us. We found out later that everything there was ‘fatto in casa’ or made at home, even croissant or pastry cream.

Then I understood why that pasticiotto was so good. I would even walk out of the city centre to have some warm pastries at this place if I would find myself in Lecce again.

I stayed in at his place for one more night, and on Saturday morning drove me down to Manuela’s place in the deep South. Manuela also offered to drive all the way up to Lecce just to pick me up and go back to her town, even though there was a train connection between Lecce and Tricase. I understood when I found out that it would take 2 hours on a train, without any delay, while it was only an hour on a car.

Just like in Thailand.


I wasn’t sure if it was the Southern hospitality or I just happened to meet extremely nice people who would love to show me the beauty of their hometown. As we drove along the Adriatic coast to the South, we stopped at the colourful Lago di Bauxite where the water was so blue and deep red rock so bright. Then we walked along the rocky coast for a little bit.


The water here was so blue and so clear. I was smiling to myself and couldn’t believe what was in front of my eyes. If the water wasn’t too cold, I would have jumped into the sea.

I was so happy to be there, in the sunshine in front of the sea where the wind lightly hit my face, looking at the infinite horizon.

And to meet all these lovely people…Andrea had been taking care of me so well, and it was so nice to feel like you were taken care of, especially when you lived so far away from home.

All this kindness I received, I would never forget.