Although there was nothing on the schedule today, it ended up being a very full and exciting day! Paola has a friend with a store here in Otranto. She sells beautiful fabrics and linens and clothing. We all want to look Italian and have white linen dresses! (Will we ever wear them in the US?) We met Paula at 12:00 to go to the store. Such beautiful cottons dresses!!! Several of them went out the door with our group! Martha and I did not find our white dresses… but the hunt was on! Paola and Dagmar and I went to the beach, the "Bahia di Turkis". This beach was the landing site of the Turks in 1480 when they captured Otranto. It is a 20 minute ride in the motorized cart (they probably go 40-50 mph), ... read more

I woke up around 7 this Saturday morning and grabbed photo equipment to take some pictures. I saw 5 cats, the first I’ve seen. I saw the street sweeper, the trash man… it wasn’t really a good time, lots of parked cars around, very contrasty light. Guess I have to get up earlier on a week day. I decided this was a stay at home day, no studio time. I shrank and sized paper and worked on the blog. I picked up sandwiches for our walk/swim/picnic this afternoon. Paola declared that it was too hot for the walk/swim, so we will try it Sunday at 8:00 am. We ate our picnic lunch at the house and had ice in our beer, Costa Rican beach style. Then we went to the beach for a little swim. My ... read more

Hard to believe I have been gone 2 weeks!!! Today, Thursday, is glass recycling day. We have a container for the glass that we put out the night before. The recycling man come in a little garbage type truck and picks up outside of every house. Recycling for plastic and paper are another day, and trash is every day. We found some information on a Byzanine Church of St. Peter. We tried to find it, and did, but it is being restored! Too bad, it has some fabulous frescoes of the Last Supper that I would like to have seen. Today was a work day, very productive. I got my process going and results were good. I know that I can produce work here. The castle was all a-buzz about a huge party for the regional ... read more

Today was a work day. I tried to get something going but ended up waiting on Federico for some negative printing. Maybe tomorrow. We had a tour of the cathedral by Paola and Martha. The cathedral is amazing and I plan to visit ever day, to gain a stronger connection. There is so much to see. I will describe some of it here today. The mosaic floor is just amazing (see earlier blog). On this visit, the crypt was open. It is down a long stone staircase, below the main cathedral. It reminds me of Cordova, Spain, with its 42 marble columns that support arches and vaulted ceilings. Each column has a different capital (Ionian, Corinthian, Asiatic, Egyptian, Byzantine, Islamic, Syrian, Persian, etc.). They are so interesting! The frescoes were from the 11th-12th century, pre-Giotto. Another ... read more

A little about Otranto: It was occupied by the Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines. It was the main port to the East (Adriatic) for 1000 years. Tales say that King Minos was here and that St. Peter celebrated the first Western mass on these shores. The Sack of Otranto occurred in 1480, when 18,000 Turks besieged the town. The town people held for 15 days before giving up. The Turks stabled their horses in the cathedral. 800 survivors were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam. There is a really cool Chapel of the Dead in the cathedral, with goulish display of the skulls and bones of those martyrs in tall glass cases! I started the day with a trip to the internet cafe. On my way I found an antique market along the city wall… lots ... read more