No travel now for nine months so taking a look back at good times in Italy…
Have Bag, Will Travel
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Despite almost being put off by the guide books we liked the city of Bari with its mazy old town and eclectic night life and one thing I would say to anyone thinking of going to Puglia then do not miss out the capital city of the region and don’t be scared off by the reviews.
We especially liked the old town in the evenings where the pavements were flowing with people like lava spilling from a volcano, the piazzas were packed, the pizzerias overflowing and the gelaterias noisy with babbling chatter. With some difficulty we found a traditional trattoria with a vacant table and enjoyed a first simple but excellent meal and then walked it off with a stroll around the moody streets of the old town lined with bars and restaurants and late night diners lingering over a final espresso.
Those unfavourable guide book descriptions need to be reviewed.
Click on an image to scroll through the Gallery…
Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favourite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments’ on Norm’s site, anytime between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American Eastern Time).
Posted in Beaches, Cathedrals, Europe, Food, History, Italy, Literature, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Bari, Culture, Hotel Oriente Bari, Life, People Watching, Photography, Polignano a Mare, Puglia
“Evidently, the God of the Jews didn’t know Puglia, otherwise he wouldn’t have given his people Palestine as the Promised Land.” – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Puglia (1194 to 1250 AD).
Posted in Beaches, Europe, Food, History, Hotels, Italy, Literature, Natural Environment, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Alberobello, Bari, Culture, Italian Driving, Italian Siesta, Italian Taxi Drivers, Lecce, Life, Ostuni, Polignano a Mare, Puglia, Trenitalia
Upon my return from Naples I thought I might update my map of places that I have visited in Italy.
Click on an image to scroll through the picture gallery…
Posted in Beaches, Childhood, Europe, Food, Greek islands, History, Iceland, Literature, Morocco, Natural Environment, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Alagarve, Bari, Culture, Essaouira Fishing Port, Ios, Life, Sorrento
Early morning was a good time to be visiting Bari Vecchia where the residents of the crooked streets were preparing for the day ahead. Washing lines were being loaded and cranked into position high up across the alleys and lanes and strung outside windows like bunting as though in anticipation of a parade or a carnival, stretching across the streets, smelling sweetly of soap powder, dripping indiscriminately and swaying gently backwards and forwards above the secret doorways and back alleys.
Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, Food, History, Italy, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Bari, Culture, Life, Photography, Puglia, Santa Clause, St Nicholas
At the harbour someone had done a lot of clearing up and all of the debris from the previous night had been removed and now in place of the beer vendors there were marble slabs alive with fresh fish pulled only recently out of the sea and on the quayside a man pulverising an octopus to break down the skeleton and to tenderise it.
Posted in Beaches, Europe, Food, Italy, Travel
Tagged Bari, Culture, Hotel Oriente Bari, Life, People Watching, Photography, Polignano a Mare, Puglia
Early Morning Walk in Bari, Puglia…
… Elsewhere there were steps and pavements to be swept, food to be prepared and shopkeepers were arranging their pavement displays, women were shopping to be sure of the freshest produce and old men were selecting shady corners in which to pitch a chair for the remainder of the day and everywhere motor scooters zipped past, engines cracking like machine gun fire, making deliveries regardless of any pedestrian right of way.
Eventually, with probably more luck than we were entitled to, we found our way out of the labyrinth of narrow streets and on to a main street that we thought we recognised and shortly we were back at the hotel for late breakfast and then for checkout.
Posted in Europe, Food, History, Hotels, Italy, Literature, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Bari, Culture, Hotel Oriente Bari, Life, People Watching, Photography, Polignano a Mare, postaday, Puglia
The main square was busy with a tsunami of people coming in waves into the old town and then just walking backwards and forwards like an Atlantic tide.
This was the passeggiata where local people descend on the town at dusk and just walk and sometimes stop to talk. Some people had bought fold up garden chairs and were just sitting and chatting, others were playing cards, some were hanging around the bars but mostly they were just walking up and down and around and around and they were still coming in as we battled against the flow unfamiliar as we were with the pavement protocol.