WHERE: Bari, Puglia, ITALY
WHEN: August 2014, 1 day
WITH: friends (+1)
HOW: Car from Altamura (45mins)/Flight from Rome (1hr)
WEATHER: Hot
Bari es la capital de Puglia y cuenta con un puerto, un castillo, una bĆ”silica y muchas cosas mĆ”s. Pero a mĆ lo que mĆ”s me sorprendiĆ³ es que, a pesar de ser una ciudad grande, en el fondo es muy pueblo! En cuanto callejĆ©as un poco empiezas a desubrir la italia profunda, con seƱoras que sacan media cocina a la calle para hacer pasta casera, los famosos orecchiette, charlan con las vecinas en bata y tienden la ropa en tendederos que plantan en mitad de la calle. AdemĆ”s en muchos recovecos hay montados altares callejeros a vĆrgenes y santos, aunque el protagonista religioso de la ciudad es San NicolĆ”s (sĆ, en quien se basa PapĆ” Noel!), cuyos restos reposan en la cripta de la BasĆlica, que es lugar de peregrinaciĆ³n sobre todo para cristianos ortodoxos.
Bari is Puglia's capital, and it has a port, a castle, a basilica and many other sights. But what really surprised me here was the small town lifestyle, even when it's a big city! If you enter the narrow streets you can observe local women who set an improvised kitchen outside their houses and make fresh pasta, the famous orecchiette, they chitchat with their neighbors in their sleeping robes and hang their laundry on the street. Moreover, you can find street altars in many corners, dedicated to virgins and saint, but the main religious character here is Saint Nicholas (the saint behind Santa Claus legend), whose remains rest in the crypt at the basilica, a pilgrimage place specially for orthodox christians.