I didn’t know exactly where to post this one. : )
The cooking class I will be taking in Lecce, Italy sent me several pages of information when I signed up for the class early this year. The day will be much more than a focus on cooking food. Besides a lot of helpful information about the culture and how it’s been influenced by all of their history (very interesting by the way!), he included a “While in the Planning Phase” section. Here’s a couple of example snippets:
When doing planning research, put your potential hotels, restaurants, etc. in your social media platforms to follow. Don’t know the regional specialties of the restaurant? They are posting photos of this week’s dishes on social media. Having a private driver? Get to know him on social media. Most people get this order backwards and follow these places after they have returned back home.
Put the sites you are thinking of visiting into TripAdvisor - churches, monuments, sites. If “very touristy” comes up often, plan ahead to limit your time there. If you didn’t know that spot receives 3000 visitors a day, it is because you weren’t looking. The information is available to know ahead what you will experience.
…and he goes on to share a lot about the benefit of staying in the smaller, less touristy towns.
So, I took his advice and have been following some of the B&B’s where I will be staying, a couple of activities and a few restaurants for over a month now. It’s amazing how much I am enjoying this change!. How fun is it to receive a few photos of the trullo I will be staying at in Alberobello in my morning Facebook story feed! I have seen how it will look with the evening light, the lady preparing the breakfast, what the town will look like when I take my early morning walk. And I can’t wait to taste the scrumptious breakfast at my Lecce palazzo hotel seeing recent photos!
I am staying at 17 B&B’s or tiny hotels in the center of cities. I have been surprised at how many had a Facebook page! Also, there are some nice recommendations on their FB page with detailed photos of things they recommend seeing in their city.
There’s a small restaurant in Polignano a Mare - nothing overly popular, but I can’t wait to eat there, feeling like I know how they like to present their creative vegan dishes and the cute decor that they are proud of on their walls.
I even saw some nice clues of what people are wearing in April in Lecce from photos posted yesterday of some participants in the cooking class. : )
Instead of my trip starting in a few weeks, I’ve been feeling connected to these places for the past month - as if my trip began in March!