Vecchia Bari, Puglia, Italy

by docdivatraveller - 12/07/2018

Bari is the capital of the Puglia region in Southern Italy. Bari itself is quite an important commercial centre itself. But for tourists, its significant for other reasons. Firstly, its the connecting link to the UNESCO World Heritage site Alberobello. Secondly, its the home of St.Nicholas. Our hotel was named after St.Nicholas and was at a walking distance from the Basilica di San Nicola.

Bari had always been an important commercial port owing to its vast coastline along the Adriatic Sea. However Bari has two very different faces. One is the modern Bari and the other Old Bari or Vecchia Bari (vecchia meaning old in Italiano).

Vecchia Bari is a fascinating little place. We had deliberately chosen a place to stay in the old part. The moment we stepped into this part of the city, we knew we were for a treat.

This entire part is paved with white stones. There are no trees. Of course how can there be? There is no soil! So people and restaurant owners have planted greens in really enormous pots. We explored it at night. So the quaint narrow alleys were dimly lit and really charming.

We started from the Basilica di San Nicola. There were a lot of tourists at that hour of the day too. There was actually no one who could speak Inglese or English and my newly learnt Italian helped us a lot in communicating. There were a lot of cute cafes and restaurants. I was loving the bustle of the tourists and the live music playing in the background. It seemed like a never ending party!

Then we walked to the Swabian Castle or the Castello di Svevo . Built in the 12th century, it was destroyed and then rebuilt again. It was closed at night. But now its used as a place for exhibitions.

We crossed the main road and came back to the paved area. However we just could not go back to our hotel or the Basilica di San Nicola. We kept on circling around the Piazza Mercantile: the hip square of music and food. At one point, we were really scared. We had not faced any mishap in Italy (which is infamous) and wanted to leave that way only. Finally after walking through the maze of stone paved alleys, we made to the basilica and then our hotel.