– bustling and lively with a solid nod to its past –
A quick post for a short day today, our last in Puglia. It was an early start as our first stop was Brindisi Airport where we dropped off Miriam who was catching an early flight.
As we were leaving later in the day from Bari airport further north, we had decided to take things slowly exploring a few locations up the coast and then stopping for a couple of hours in Vecchio Bari i.e. old Bari town.
Our first stop – and breakfast – was at Polignano a Mare, a tourist town on the coast, most famous for its protected beach. The usual pastries and coffee as it’s difficult to find anything else for breakfast in Italy!
There were some fairly relaxed customers who joined us:
This is the famous cove at Polignano a Mare – a little cramped from an Australian’s viewpoint! Based on what we saw on our travels, it seems that any stretch of sand is at a premium here!
Most of the coastline appeared to be rock and there wasn’t much chance to stop and enjoy the coastline as it all seemed to be private (undeveloped) property – quite different to the Sydney coastline which is completely developed and has plenty of public spaces along the beach.
So we arrived in Bari a little earlier than expected. It’s clearly a more work-a-day town than, say, Lecce. It appears there’s a fairly strong rivalry between the two despite the fact that Bari is the provincial capital.
This was the area near the harbour. The apricot building is an important theatre.
The guidebook recommended that we stick to the old town – and so we did – for the most part. It certainly had more life than Lecce – with lots of shouting, singing and general hawking of wares in the narrow unkempt streets. I think that it was for this reason that Calum actually preferred it to Lecce – though the latter has a great deal more elegance and historical interest.
We spent a good hour or so attending a wedding in the main basilica. Interesting that it had such a massive turn-out for a Tuesday morning!
The basilica had some interesting sculptures out front – I’m not sure the sculptor had actually ever seen a lion!
Although less notable, we actually preferred the less famous cathedral for its simplicity:
We had a simple lunch at a fairly chaotic trattoria – which wasn’t averse to stripping tourists of their cash – followed by a quick stroll through a small part of the “new” city – which was charming in itself – and then off to the airport!
Goodbye Puglia! We had a wonderful time! My only regret was not seeing Matera (which is not in Puglia – but next door) – but then that’s an excuse to return!
