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| 6:00am Sunrise from the Ferry |
We had a good ferry trip over although the reclining seats do not actually recline so sleeping was a little difficult but I didn't let myself feel bad about it because there were lots of Italian senior citizens who were sleeping this way as well and some of them had colds as there was lots of coughing and sneezing. It all turned out fine and I did manage to get some sleep on and off all night so I was fine by 6:00am when I woke up and saw the sun rising which was gorgeous.
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| Me with Becca and Talia at the train station |
We were docked by 8:00am and off the ship and waiting in a long, long line to get through customs. I met the sweetest young mom and her 9 year old daughter from Darwin, Australia. They are on a 6 week holiday traveling to like 9 countries. They were heading to Rome this afternoon but had several hours before their train at 1:17pm so I had them bring their luggage to my hotel and then we all went out to do a little touring around. And I love how fabulous children are at that age and so observant. When we got to my room Talia went in and said in an heightened tone of voice "they even have a latrine!" And my first reaction was "they do?" And then I realized what it must be the bidet. They don't have them in Australia so I explained what it was but I just loved that her frame of reference was a latrine because we adults just take so much for granted and never look at day to day life with fresh eyes and she does that each day which is so refreshing and fun.
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| Becca and Talia |
It was so nice to have such fun people to tour about with and chat and chat with. Becca, the mom is 32 and very sweet and works in public relations for the Darwin, Australia Police department and she is in charge or things like coordinating news coverage of natural disasters like cyclones and getting the reports out to the public in advance of the disasters to save as many people as possible. She is also the Council Women for her city so she keeps very busy. And the adorable Talia who for a 9 year old is incredibly articulate and an absolute pleasure. She reminds me so much of my youngest Goddaughter, Amelia, partly in the way she looks but also in her energy and her dramatic nature. She's very chatty and very funny and danced her way down the sidewalks as her mom and I talked and they both told me all about life in Australia and how where they live they have hundreds of thousands of crocodiles and they live on the beaches and just a year or so ago killed a child who was swimming. Scary and it also turns out that Australia has 8 or the 10 most deadly animals in the world. You do have to wonderful how they ever leave the house, I'd be terrified and Talia almost stepped on a poison snake last year but thankfully it was half dead and didn't attack her. It doesn't make you want to rush off and visit but I'm sure it's rear that people get fatal harmed by them or at least I hope so. And Darwin has 95% humidity everyday that's a good thing for us humidity lovers but still those deadly animals are a real drawback.
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| Fountain in the park near my hotel |
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| Pretty courtyard in a municipal building across from the park |
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| Fountain outside the Bari Centrale Train Station |
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| View of my 1970's hotel facade |
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| Gorgeous tree in park near my hotel with little Easter eggs still hanging from it |
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| View of pretty, old building from my room at Hotel Victor |
We picked up there suitcases and headed back to the train station where a young American couple who were on the ferry with us were also there as well as the Japanese couple who also too the boat from Dubrovnik, but the other two American's who were with us on the boat didn't make it as they had gotten food poisoning yesterday and I think felt it was too risky to get on the train despite having tickets to go to the Vatican Museum. The girl looked so awful when we finally got off the boat. Traveling can be so exhausting but when you're sick it's just so much worse as everyone can imagine.
I said bye to Becca and Talia and wish them a safe rest of their journey which goes Rome, Florence, Venice, Morocco, Barcelona, Paris, England, Thailand and then back home to Australia. What a great trip for Talia and as Becca said it's great for her to get to spend so much alone time with her daughter.
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| Promenade to Old Town along the tall city walls |
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| Marina |
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| Marina |
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| Fortress near the water and connected to the city wall |
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| Promenade |
It's my first visit to Bari and it's really a beautiful city.
"Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia (or, in Italian, Puglia) region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas. Bari is made up of four different urban sections. To the north is the closely built old town on the peninsula between two modern harbours, with the splendid Basilica of Saint Nicholas, the Cathedral of San Sabino (1035–1171) and the Swabian Castle built for Frederick II, which is now also a major nightlife district. To the south is the Murat quarter (erected by Joachim Murat), the modern heart of the city, which is laid out on a rectangular grid-plan with a promenade on the sea and the major shopping district (the via Sparano and via Argiro)."
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| The Basilica di San Nicola (Saint Nicholas) , Facade |
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| The Basilica di San Nicola (Saint Nicholas) - Front Door |
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| Fountain across from The Basilica di San Nicola (Saint Nicholas) |
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The Basilica di San Nicola (Saint Nicholas)
Front door Sculpture |
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| The Basilica di San Nicola (Saint Nicholas) - Front door sculpture |
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The Basilica di San Nicola (Saint Nicholas)
Interesting back window with elephant sculptures |
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The Basilica di San Nicola (Saint Nicholas)
It's the first Catholic church I think I've ever been in with two nude female sculptures behind it. |
"The Basilica di San Nicola (Saint Nicholas) was founded in 1087 to receive the relics of this saint, which were brought from Myra in Lycia, and now lie beneath the altar in the crypt, where are buried the Topins, which are a legacy of old thieves converted to good faith. The church is one of the four Palatine churches of Apulia (the others being the cathedrals of Acquaviva delle Fonti and Altamura, and the church of Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano)."
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The Basilica di San Nicola (Saint Nicholas)
Beautiful Side Alter |
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| Bari Cathedral |
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| Bari Cathedral with beautiful fresco under restoration |
Bari Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Bari or Cattedrale di San Sabino) is the cathedral of Bari, senior to, though less famous than, the Basilica of St. Nicholas (Basilica di San Nicola) in Bari, Italy. The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Bari-Bitonto, as it was previously of the archbishops, earlier bishops, of Bari. It is dedicated to Saint Sabinus, a bishop of Canosa, whose relics were brought here in the 9th century. The present building was constructed between the late 12th and late 13th centuries, mostly in the last thirty years of the 12th century, and was built on the site of the ruins of the Imperial Byzantine cathedral destroyed in 1156 by William I of Sicily known as the Wicked (il Malo); to the right of the transept it is still possible to observe traces of the original pavement which extends under the nave."
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| Swabian Castle |
"Swabian Castle - The Norman-Hohenstaufen Castle, widely known as the Castello Svevo (Swabian Castle), was built by Roger II of Sicily around 1131. Destroyed in 1156, it was rebuilt by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. The castle now serves as a gallery for a variety of temporary exhibitions in the city."
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| Remains from fortress on old Bari (Barivecchia) protective walls |
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| Homemade pasta drying outside near Barivecchia |
"Barivecchia, or Old Bari, is a sprawl of streets and passageways making up the section of the city to the north of the modern Murat area. Barivecchia was until fairly recently considered a no-go area by many of Bari's residents due to the high levels of petty crime. A large-scale redevelopment plan beginning with a new sewerage system and followed by the development of the two main squares, Piazza Mercantile and Piazza Ferrarese has seen the opening of many pubs and other venues. This has been welcomed by many who claim that the social life of the city, and in particular the experience for tourists in Bari, has been improved and that jobs and revenue have been created. Others point out the effects of late-night noise in the enclosed squares and criticise development based mainly on pubs and other such premises. "Se Parigi avesse il mare, sarebbe una piccola Bari" (If Paris had the sea, it would be a little Bari). This popular saying tells you more about the local sense of humor than it does about the city, but Bari has a surprising amount of charm, particularly Barivecchia, its increasingly chic medieval old town."
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| Marina view from the wall |
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| View from the walk on the wall |
It was a very nice day and I'm staying at the Hotel Victor only a 10 minute walk to the train station and it is really like stepping back in time to the 70's with odd multi-colored furnishings including rubber bathtub non-slip stickers lining the tub's bottom that are brightly colored 70's type cutout flowers and the shower head is really unique with a hole in the middle that allows you to place the shower head on a metal prong rather than a hook so the water just sprays out after hitting the wall first. It works and I was happy after the night sleeping in a chair, using my purse as pillow and wearing all my clothes to just take a warm shower and wash my hair.
I'm so glad I took the ferry back and got to meet such lovely people and I am consistently amazed at how you go from not a person exists to knowing so much about their life and feeling like you've been friends for years. I look forward to Becca and Talia emailing me about their travel adventure and it's great to see a 9 year old doing very much like myself but with her mom making the choices although going to Monaco was here idea, she saw it in a teen movie she loves and really wanted to visit so her mom organized the trip around a stop there, so sweet.
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| Political Rally |
And I got a little lost going back to my hotel from the old city area. There was a huge politically rally going on for the four-time Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who is now running for a 5th term. It was very peaceful and hundreds of Carbonari (police officers) where everywhere and many of those attending, and there were hundreds and hundreds of them, walking and waving flags and singing were all organized (by Italian standards) and just enjoying being out with their family and friends. It was all very social and there were huge TV screens in places on the main street and I watched as people cheered for the Prime Mister as they played a cheerful, happy song someone must have composed just for this occasion. It was the kind of song like "It's a Small World" that just sticks in your head, a real snappy ditty.
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| Presidential Political Rally with Carbonari keeping an eye on them |
But fortunately a very sweet older man, Enzo got me oriented and in the right direction for my hotel. It's a very easy city to get around but I just got turned around and the streets in the new area are on a simple grid but also look very much alike from one to the other so you do get a little confused but it's all easily remedied especially when nice people get you oriented.
I had a wonderful day and although I'm truly exhausted I'm thrilled I got to come here for the day and also got to go to mass at the Basilica di San Nicola which is very impressive with a vast open space inside and some gorgeous fresco's some that are partially restored which make them even more interesting. And the relics room is impressive just off the front door and an extremely large statue of St. Nicholas elaborately dressed with several golden artifacts.
