Bari

With a huge sigh of relief – as always – we dropped our rental car at Bari airport and caught the train to the city center where we had a short and easy 10-minute walk to our Hotel Orientale Bari. We dropped off our bags and set off to explore.

We are within a short walking distance Of the old walled city and also the waterfront.

Bari Cathedral – the Cathedral of San Sabeno – was constructed between the late 12th and late 13th centuries, mostly in the last thirty years of the 12th century, and was built on the site of the ruins of the Byzantine cathedral destroyed in 1156 by William I of Sicily known as the Wicked.

Mopeds carry everything easily through the narrow streets of the old city.

One of the most imposing buildings in Bari is the Norman castle that sits between the old town and the water.

After passing through Arco Alto, a small archway a short distance from the moat, you see women sitting outside or just inside their doorways, rolling out fresh pasta and making orchiette.

The patron saint of Bari, San Nicola, is better known across the English-speaking world as Santa Claus or Father Christmas, and his remains are kept in the basilica’s crypt. Legend holds that myrrh seeps from his body, a miracle celebrated on December 6 with solemn processions throughout the city.

According to tradition, he was born in the ancient Lycian seaport city of Patara, and, when young, traveled to Palestine and Egypt. He became bishop of Myra soon after returning to Lycia. He was imprisoned and likely tortured during the persecution of Christians by the Romans but was released under the rule of Constantine the Great. He was buried in his church at Myra, and by the 6th century his shrine there had become well known. In 1087 Italian sailors or merchants stole his alleged remains from Myra and took them to Bari, Italy; this removal greatly increased the saint’s popularity in Europe, and Bari became one of the most crowded of all pilgrimage centres.