FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Bougie In Bari

Basilica di San Nicola

Bari, capital of Puglia, is an ancient sea-trading port with a rich history on account being conquered by various powers throughout time. Unfortunately for us, it was a quick one night stop as we had an early morning train the next day to Napoli. We farewelled Polignano a Mare and caught a train to Bari. We rented a 2 bedroom place within easy walking distance to Bari Centrale. The owner advised us that prior to check in, we could drop our luggage off at a nearby bar which offered free storage if we bought food or drinks. Drinks it was because by this time we were already hot and sweaty!

Our agenda for the day was a street food tour. The original booking was for a WALKING 2 hour food tour. Fortunately for us, no one else booked the tour and they offered for us to go on the 3 hour cultural AND food tour by bike instead at no extra charge. In addition, they offered for us to keep the use of the bicycles until 7pm. So glad Malcolm Albany was not on this trip for he would have said yes straight away. I politely requested a different option as the thought of cycling through narrow alleys with moving pedestrians was not quite palatable. She said non c'è problema!! You can go by rickshaw instead! And so it was that we found ourselves being cycled around the old town in a rickshaw by a slim and very fit Federica, and that we got a bonus tour of the main sites of Bari included. It was condensed but sure beats a DIY version!!

At first it was a bit embarrassing as we were the only ones on a rickshaw and the rest of the tour participants were on their own bikes. We were also often only centimeters away from either sitting diners or pedestrians with our Federerica loudly shouting "Attenzione!" every 5 seconds...It didn't take long for us to embrace our comfort as we had shade over our heads and we didn't have to exert much energy. Go Federica!

Most importantly, we were taken to the 12th-century Basilica di San Nicola, which was on our "to-visit" list in Bari. The Basilica holds some of St. Nicholas’ remains. Yup that would be the same St Nicholas who is also known as Father Christmas. What we learnt today was that in the crypt there was a special pillar. The girls of Bari in times gone by believed that this pillar helped those who couldn’t find a suitable husband. They would pray to St. Nicholas, and walk around this pillar three times. The story has it that a perfect match would appear within a year. Unfortunately for us, there was a liturgy on when we arrived and so we could not see the altar of Santa's remains nor could we see this ancient magical Tinder pillar.

Federica, cycling the rickshaw for us. And yes that is a typical narrow street filled with pedestrians that she would navigate with great skill!

Bougie in Bari. Let's do it

Everyone else rode their own bikes...

Basilica di San Nicola

Strada delle Orecchiette

Made famous by women making, drying and selling their orecchiette

This is what they're supposed to look like

Column of Justice, erected in the mid 1500s. Offenders would be shackled naked, where they'd be shamed by the townsfolk. Gotta love good old fashioned punishment.

The food tour had us trying the focaccia from that won "Best focaccia in Italy" in 2019, a Bari pasta dish, panzerotto and gelato. I may have found a new favourite pasta - Spaghetti all'assassina AKA "Killer" pasta, . This classic Bari dish has the pasta cooked not in boiling water but in a pan with tomato sauce. It has a nice spicy kick to it with crunchy bits on account of being cooked directly in a pan. Up next dessert. I chose Caffè Leccese (essential the ice coffee of Puglia) - a macchiato with sweet almond milk, and pistacchio, the flavour which I use to compare gelatos across Italy. The first was great, intense with a great flavour. The latter was good without being outstanding. The gelato was a nice way to finish the tour but by then we were dripping in sweat from the heat. As an aside, the food tour participants were all Australians and it made for a nice change! I guess you underestimate how much you have in common.

We took the opportunity to pop in to some shops as a heat refuge on our walk back but were glad to be air-conditioning, have a cooling shower and change into fresh clothes.