sun rise from the boot's spur

12/16/22 | Monopoli, Puglia > Woke up in Vieste, continued driving around the spur of the boot, the 1st 20 minutes or so was scenic + nice but once we got off the spur it became agricultural/industrial wasteland from Foggia to Bari, heavy traffic, pollution, just not interesting. Pulled off at Polignano de Mare for a coffee, then on to Monopoli. Parked in a lot outside town + walked through the rampart walls. Got a room overlooking the sea. Walked around the town, only takes 10-15 minutes to walk across so just meandered here + there + along seafront + up into the castle. Ate lunch at La Locanda sul Porto, had crostinis + vongole w/ pesto. It's almost 70°F here, walking around in a T-shirt (though Italians are all bundled in jackets). Came back to the room + laid on the bed with the door open so we could hear the waves lapping right at our feet + snoozed off. Went to Ristorante Piazza Palmieri for dinner, had scorpion-fish carpaccio + raw shrimp appetizers + zuppetta di pesce, which this region is famous for, but it wasn't so soupy, more like plate of seafood with tomato sauce. Slept w/ door open listening to waves all night, like having a real-world wave machine.

Monopoli

12/17> Posted this piece by Mike Topp, composed of ~28 smaller pieces that evidently were tweets, so for those of us not on Twitter this was the next best thing. After Musk's crackdown on journalists + banning the account tracking his planes, can't believe anyone in their right mind is still on Twitter. The medium is the message.

The zuppa de pesce did a number on our bedder-½'s belly, either that or after all these weeks/ months of stress over this decision their body let them know they needed to purge + rest. So went for a run solo along waterfront south of Monopoli, then walked around town some more. Another beautiful day, 65° + sunny, walking around in shorts + T-shirt though all the Italians were still bundled w/ scarfs + jackets.

The names in Monopoly are based on Atlantic City, NJ, not sure Parker Bros even knew a Monopoli exists in Italy? Or what the small fishing village of Monopoli is monopolizing on? "Mono" + "poly" seems self-contradictory, but guess it's Greek for "single" + "to sell".

view from our room

selfie on our roof

beach south of town