Lecce after Dark

From Our "Roof" Terrace

Our apartment is nice and quiet, and our terrace looks out on the pleasant vine covered courtyard, so it hardly looks like we are in the middle of the city. It is quiet and other than the owner's daughter who's vocalizations seem to travel everywhere, or the ever present church bells we do not hear much, and who can complain about church bells and children?

Once you open the small door in the two big green courtyard doors, you enter another world. You emerge into the middle of a busy city with crowds of people. During the day it is busy, but go out after dark and it is even worse. You open the door and often have to wait for a break in the crowd to step out.

The Square at Night

Out on the Town

Lecce is a vibrant city at night. When you walk the streets at night you see a whole other world. There are shops, bars, restaurants, and special events you never knew were there. As with many World Heritage Sites, buildings must retain their historical structure and look, so if you want to open a store selling Lecce's Arts and Crafts, a trendy wine bar, or a popular restaurant, you must design it into the ancient original buildings. As a result, signs, displays and windows are often inside once your shutters are closed, and there is no visual evidence your establishment even exists. Many of these shops just do not open during the day, because they realize way more people are out in the evening, no one is around between 2:00 & 4:00, so they wait until 5:00 to open for the day and make their livings after dark.

We found numerous one-time art shows, odd second hand shops, jewelry shops where the owners were making the jewelry right there, pottery shops where the paints and finishes were in jars in a corner, funky restaurants, and hidden wine bars. There was always something new to discover as we wandered the narrow streets  after dark in the yellow glow of ancient street lamps.

Lecce After Dark

Update on the Suzhou NIght Lights

Well, the more time I spend here in China, the more I am surprised. Just when I think I know something I find out I was wrong. It has happened again.

I went out on a nice evening with my telephoto lens on my camera to get some better pictures of the lights on the top of all the building. Some of these apartment complexes are so tall you need a long lens to get a picture of the top floors. It was a lovely warm evening and I walked down to the bridge over Jin Ji Lake thinking I'd get a few photos of the bridge, as it ia also all illuminated like so much else.

I got some great shots, and was going to edit my post on the lights with some better shots. I started back at about 8:55 pm, and at 9:00, suddenly I noticed it was darker. I looked around and realized that the streetlight had gone from five bulbs to just one - so much for no light burning out. I thought. Then I noticed that the blue strip along the top of the apartments beside me was gone. Then as I watched, all over the city, the lights on top of the building were going out.

Now the powers that are in charge of the lighting of Suzhou could have read my Blog, and decided that my suggestion that it was a bit of a waste was a valid one, and decided to turn everything out, but I suspect that this display is only on late at night on the weekends, and goes out every night at 9:00 to conserve power.

I apologize to the Suzhou Light & Power folks. I now see that this beautiful display of lighting is only on during peek hours when everyone can enjoy. Once again I am surprised at how this city has been carefully planned for the enjoyment of the residents, and the nightlight are just one more part of that plan.

Suzhou After Dark

As I drove into Suzhou on my first night, tired after the long flight, and sick with a cold, I noticed the impressive lighting on top of all the buildings. I decided to go out after dark, and take some pictures of these lights, but it seemed that even on nice days, it got damp and cool as the sun went down, and it took me over two weeks to actually get around to going out after dark and seeing the lights. Today, it remained relatively clear out and the warmth of the day stayed with us to create a pleasant evening, so my camera and I went out to see the lights.

My first goal was to get some shots of the illuminated building tops. The biggest problem is deciding which ones are the best. Every apartment complex is different, and they are all quite nice. Some have flood lights trained on the top floors, some have coloured lights decorating or outlining the tops, and some seem to have decorative tops with all the lights on. During the day I assumed these were the penthouses where the rich and famous of Suzhou lived, but it wouldn't be such a luxury if the lease agreement required you to keep all your lights on all night.

The apartment complexes are not the only buildings illumining the night sky of Suzhou. Offices and pubic building seem to have a competition to see who can have the most elaborate lighting scheme. Off across the lake I could see the Arts and Culture building changing colour and twinkling in the moonlight, and the Cruise ship (I have taken to calling it this because I do not know what it is, and it reminds me of a ship), has rows of lights continually changing colour. The most elaborate is a big building that has one straight side and the other curving up to it in an arc. There are lights all over the building, but on the curved side, rows of lights constantly move up and down the surface, changing colour and pattern. I stood there for a good ten minutes just watching the patterns.

I then made my way down to Rainbow Walk. If I was looking for lights, I figured a place named “Rainbow” would be a great place to be. There is a little cove there, and on my rainy day walk I noticed that in the cove beside the walk, there were many fountain heads and light systems. I assumed this was to put on an elaborate light and water show after dark. When I arrived there was a large crowd gathered, and I thought they must be there for the show. I was disappointed. Every so often a group of fountains would erupt in coloured lights, but the 10 minute wait between short displays made it not worth while. I waited about an hour, spending a pleasant time watching the people, although even after dark, I found it hard to blend in, and often found myself the object of interest rather than the lights. One little boy of about 2, could not stop staring at me. I waved to him, and his family decided to try to get him to wave to me, and then to shake my hand, but he would have no part of it. He was quite happy to observe the strange man from a distance, but as soon as someone tried to carry him towards me, he burst into screams of terror. Good thing my self esteem is in good shape.

There were vendors selling tissue paper hot air balloons powered by little blocks of fuel, and as a few were sent into the night skies, business became brisk, and soon the sky was full of these balloons gently floating away on the evening air. It was quite a sight, the red glowing balloons with tiny flames under them drifting past the moon and away into the distance. I bought one to take home with me to send aloft some calm evening, but I would have to buy 50 of them to truly recreate the sight.

One interesting thing I noticed is that I never saw a burnt out light, or a flickering neon strip, everything worked perfectly. I passed a park area with a whole group of lights that served no purpose I could see other than light up the city, and every one was working perfectly. Back home there would have been burnt out bulbs, or lights changed with wrong wattage, so they were dimmer, and there would have probably been some broken by vandals and not fixed yet, but here in Suzhou, whoever maintains the lighting is sure doing a great job. They are at least as good as the amazing garden maintenance teams.

I learned tonight that Suzhou is just as beautiful at night as it is during the daytime.