David's Diary: Sunday, September 15, 2002

Bari, Italy

After a couple of days in Vieste we headed south to the town of Bari. Bari is the capital of Puglia, the region of Italy that encompasses the 'spur' and 'heel'. We moored for free out on the public quay. With all of our recent travel we are behind a little bit in school, so we continued to do school today. For recess, I took Kevin, Allen, and Jocelyn to see if we can find the tourist information office. We do find it, but it's closed on Sunday. We work our way back to the marina and on the way we passed a Sunday fish market.

While we looked on we saw two fishermen tenderizing some octopus. They were throwing the octopus on to the ground with all of their might. We could hear the 'thrap' as each octopus hit the ground. Nearby another fisherman was washing octopus in what looked like dish soap. In reality it was just salt water that had been worked up so much that it frothed. We later saw the finished octopus for sale. With all the preparation, the final result looked like it was bleached white.

Shrine to Madonna

There are over 120 little shrines to Madonna in the crowded old town of Bari. After school I took Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen to explore Bari and everywhere we turned we saw another shrine. All were maintained and it was common to see fresh flowers at each shrine, no matter how small it was.

Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen at Castello Svevo

We made our way to Castello Svevo. The castle has gone through many phases and once we were inside we got a chance to climb down and see some of the original Norman walls that were subsequently built over.

Decorations

There were also numerous plaster copies of Romanesque decorations from throughout the Puglia region. Both the children and I enjoyed this as it gave us a close-up look of decorations that are normally half-way up the side of a church. It was nice that we could see details that even with binoculars are impossible to see in the original.

Basilica di San Nicola

We next made our way to Basilica di San Nicola. The towering dome was built in the 11th century on the ruins of a Byzantine palace. In the basement, we viewed the remains of San Nicola who the Basilica is named after.

Curious Italians

As we left the church we noticed a group of young Italian local girls sitting on the steps. They were taken with Jocelyn's blond hair. We were able to communicate that we were from Canada and that Jocelyn was 13, Kevin 11, and Allen 6. A couple of the girls looked like they had a sparkle in their eyes and a dimple on their cheeks when they looked at Kevin.

Dragonsinger at Dusk

We returned to Dragonsinger and watched the numerous fishermen who came out to try their luck on a nice Sunday. As watched the sun set over Bari we thought back on how full and enjoyable a day we had exploring another new city.