Santorini + Crete | May 2019

“We lost ourselves in the whitewashed walls and blue-capped churches of Santorini. We explored the small streets of Thera and Firostefani as we lapped ice cream by the tongueful, and we scaled the steep cliffs of Oía to watch the legendary sunset over the Aegean. We spent a day at sea and swam in waters so clear and blue you could see the bottom of the earth. I jumped in and let the cool, salty water keep me afloat as my weightless body slowly bobbed back and forth, humming me into a serene peace. The last few days were spent in the Old Venetian Port of Chania on the island of Crete. I played with stray cats and local dogs in the streets. I spent a morning obsessing over a young Friesian and let her pungent, musty smell of horse sweat and leftover hay overtake me. I found a small table on the water and sat down to write as the sun drifted downwards in the sky, and the blues softened into purples and then pinks. I watched as the white lights of the ancient lighthouse began to glow, and the last remaining remnants of the walled city slowly began to disappear into the sea. The world walked by me in every language and I felt at home lost in the foreign tongues and unfamiliar hand movements.”

-Tess Thomas, The Laughing Diet; “Glass Castles”