Day 31 Bari

Bari had been mentioned several times, but mostly as a place we were not going to visit, but over breakfast we made a plan to go there. The Youtube videos looked interesting, and it was only a half hour drive away.

Finding a car park in Bari was a bit of a trial but we eventually scored one close to the seafront and near the old town. Though Monday is a slow day in Italy, Bari was bucking the trend and the place was full of people. It was a prosperous looking place with wide boulevards and loads of substantial historic buildings. The council chambers/governor’s office  were housed in a palace and in the area we walked through, at least three substantial churches all in celebration of St Francesco. We tried to see the fort built along the front but it was closed on Mondays.

Bari was setting up for its big festival of religious and secular performances. The street closure barriers were stacked up and ready to put out. The whole seafront was being set up with amusements and rides. The illuminations were trucked in (Take note City of Merri Bek) and the whole place was getting set to go off like a cracker on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

After a late start we were not really ready for lunch at 12.30 but we walked past a hole in the wall deli that advertised some brilliant looking sandwiches. We squeezed in and placed our order using photos we had snapped outside. The sandwiches were freshly made and gorgeous. I tumbled out of the shop clutching these and a couple of drinks. A gentlemanly local came to my rescue, whipping up a table and two chairs. Later when he saw me wresting with the top of a bottle of iced tea that must have been sealed with an electric wrench, he bounded over again to whip it off. Grazie!

We rounded off the walk with a pass along the seafront where there was a huge flotilla of very small fishing boats, then walked up fashion street (Ralph Lauren, Gucci etc etc) until I thought I was going to drop. The sight of our car almost made me whimper in relief. “Home James".