October 4, 2023
Day 28: Rest day in Bari
Bari is an interesting city. There's no denying that. We were a little overwhelmed by it after riding through smaller towns for more than a week. In the old quarter, especially, the scooter riders made me feel like I was in a traditional Asian market again, with the constant near misses and that mosquito-like buzzing in my ears. I know what you're thinking, because I'm thinking it too: how are we going to deal with Rome? All I can say is we'll worry about that when we get there.
We took three sightseeing walks today. The first was a random sampling of the old quarter, taken at a time when tourist traffic was light but worker traffic was heavy, hence all the scooters. The second was a visit to the new city, which is very grand -- almost offensively grand. We were cranky because there was construction going on in the apartment above ours, and we felt forced to go out when we really wanted to rest for another hour. The third was a trip to the Castello Sveva di Bari, which is very near where we're staying, but it's a pretty big place, so a lot of walking was involved anyway.
The city has such a complex history that I can't even pretend to know all the players involved in various conquests. I looked around for African and Byzantine and Islamic and Greek and Russian influences, but I came up short. Maybe we should've taken a tour from a local guide. I'd certainly have learned more. But it's really not our style.
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A few impressions from the Basilica:
We stumbled into a court where they really like houseplants:
The street scenes were certainly lively.
These photos are from the castle. The first one is authentic, I believe. The rest are plaster casts of real artifacts.
I don't want to end on a down note, but we saw a ghost bike yesterday on the way in to town. Today I spotted this:
I'm going to take it as a reminder that we cyclists are all brothers and sisters, and that we need to look out for one another. Also, let's be very careful cycling out of Bari tomorrow!
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