Ok I have too many photos so there will likely be another bunch that’ll go up at some point but my best human @itrainsinspain took @el_chatosf peeps to Spain and I got to tag along and it was the most amazing wonderful beautiful trip!!!
On my first evening in Nardò around 9pm, I wandered into a small church with pigeons roosting in the pediment and a stained-glass cross above it. I was raised culturally and religiously Jewish, though I no longer practice and don’t consider myself spiritual. I studied art history in Italy about a decade ago, so I’ve spent plenty of time around Catholic art and in massive cathedrals. But in this tiny church, I realized I was the only one inside. Tears started welling up as I walked around and heard my footsteps echo. I’d never felt more grateful for solitude—or for my own company. I don’t have any photos of the inside because I wanted to protect our little moment.
On my second night, I had dinner at an enoteca and let the owner choose a bottle of Barolo for me. It just so happened to be from 2016. In 2016, I was also in Italy—but instead of drinking Barolo, I was drinking €4 table wine from a place where you could bring your own container, eating store-bought pasta with canned tomato sauce because we were students with almost no money to spend on anything other than plane and train tickets to other countries. It felt like a lovely, full-circle surprise. Oh, and behind the wine bottle was a dog named Diego, whose owner shared about half of his own meal with him.
This place truly is and was special. I hope I get to come back, sooner rather than later. I feel so incredibly lucky.
High-key one of my best days (I mean, look at the plastic jug the lady poured my mezzo litro of wine out of). Lest we forget my kayak champions 🫶🏻. Anchovy n caper pizza? Old men fishing? Old women bathing? Get outta here!!
Photos from Ostuni & Lecce my captions r gonna be longer than normale, ma sopportami.
1. Kids playing in the waves at Lama Monachile in Polignano a Mare.
2. Bells in Polignano a mare.
3. Dreamy room at @masseriamoroseta
4. Back patio @masseriamoroseta under an olive tree.
5. Sunset in Ostuni.
6. Italian Nopales!
7. Dope hotel mirror sitch in Lecce.
8. My absolute favorite sad Jesus sculpture ever made (this says a lot i have seen avast amt of sad Jesus in my time) of ivory with a ruby set in gold where his stab wound would be. An icon!! A diva!! I wish I could bejewel my scars.
9. Probably a priest’s skull in the crypt beneath a church in Lecce.
10. I will forever understand a fire hazard but making these electronic really sucks the romanticism & seriousness right out of it all.
11. Church façade in Lecce.
12. Mary holding a tiny sad Jesus, also very sad.
13. I wonder what they’re keeping in there (am hoping it’s the finger of a saint or something).
14. Street in Lecce.
15. Ricotta ravioli with a pea sauce.
16. Rooftop at my hotel in Lecce where I got so excited about the rest of my trip my hands were shaking!!!
17. Man absolutely sending it at Faraglioni di Sant’Andrea. ILY.
18. A serve on the beach.
19. Granite vendor having a read (was listening to Eminem).
20. Seafood strozzapreti!!
You don’t have social media anymore but I’ll say it here anyway. I love you so very much thank you for never getting tired of doing the crossword with me and for being there to pose like a cute-gross straight couple on all our adventures and for stumbling around in the streets and for generally inviting the most whimsy into my life every single day!!! I miss you to bits but thankful for our time together forever and always 🖤
