15th to 18th March
We had a glorious morning in Torino after a somewhat disturbed night in a cramped bed. But the shower was hot, if a bit wonky, after waiting eons for hot water. Caffe and croissant outdoors before climbing onto the train, the Grand Express, Frecciarossa 9805, (the Red Arrow, max speed 360kph) business class, 8 1/4 hours from the very North to Bari in the heel of southern Italy.
Three armed policemen wandered up and down the train, bored and flicking on mobile phones between stations, with sound disturbing the quiet in our carriage. They chose to occupy seats close by, but Peter found a novel way to scare them off!
The north Italian plain is stunningly flat, with the whole horizon lined with the snow encrusted Alps and Dolomites. Past Milano and Bologna, we hit the sea just after Rimini. Sandy beaches, holiday camping sites and white crested waves.
The train stays close to the sea edge, rough waves crashing against vast kilometres of rock barriers down the coast.
The weather turned from clear blue sky to grey and rainy, and then, piercing sun through high fluffy clouds.
Arriving at Bari, the train nearly empty, the weather was unpleasant. Slippery and uneven pavements in the cold drizzle, navigating our way to B&B Clorinda. Our host, Pierluigi, arrived, after a little wait since he was walking his dog.
The B&B (no breakfast) was an apartment on the third floor, with a cramped lift that sounded a bell when setting off – BONG! A large, sterile room, and private bathroom, but down a pitch black corridor, with key locks and doors going the wrong way. But internet was excellent, and Lynne was able to enjoy a much needed video gym session with Jon to repair her aching hip. (Unfortunately Lynne tripped on an uneven paving stone in London, flying through the air and landing neatly by rolling onto her side, but it’s been tough getting her hip joint properly mobile again).
The days in Bari were sunny, but oh so cold when not in the sun. After coffee and croissant breakfast on the first day, we were off to find the ferry ticket office to get our preordered tickets for our crossing to Patras.
Not quite sure where the ticket office was, we followed a tree lined avenue past an ancient Swabian Castle, to the gated harbour entrance. Swept by the steely wind, we fought our way to the terminal, completely empty, to get our tickets and be advised that we could arrive early on the day of departure.
The next morning, emboldened we went on our first run for nearly 2 months, around the bay at Bari; glorious in the sun but not at all warm. We encircled the Old Town, with medieval narrow, crooked streets, with balconies burgeoned with washing drying, with the powerful smell of detergent. A lovely, evocative experience.
In the middle of this, we found the magnificent Basilica of Saint Nicholas, built to hold the relics of said Saint in 1087. The even more imposing Bari Cathedral, a short walk away, was disappointing by comparison, as the interior lacked the magnificent ceiling artwork and interior structures of the Basilica.
We found some nice places for dinner, but the choice seemed to be mainly Pizza restaurants or Pizza restaurants. We enjoyed most restaurants, but the food that appeared at our table often did not quite match what we thought we had ordered. Our clear favourite was Tuccio Cucina Caffe, which had a lovely ambiance and spot-on fresh food. Our most enjoyable bottle of wine was a local Sauvignon Blanc at €10, while the local Primitivo was a bit too heavy, more black than red.
As a city, Bari is a pretty typical Mediterranean city, but with a charming old town and a very useful port. We can appreciate that it would be very hot during the summer. Cold as it was for us, didn’t quite bring out the best of the city. We were surprised by the numbers of shops selling designer clothes, fancy children’s clothing and white wedding dresses.
Leaving Bari, our ship was due to leave at 19.30, but we had to vacate our B&B at 11.00. So, we slowly made our way to the port terminal with our heavy backpacks, taking plenty of time for coffees and tea, a leisurely lunch, and sitting in a quiet and pretty square – with one more coffee.
PS ….the way to scare off the Polizia on the train was for Peter’s iPad to magically play a selection of Elgar; – no idea how it went on by itself – or indeed how to turn it off!
Lessons Learned – Stuffing your trainers with socks and underwear makes for a hassle-filled changeover when swapping shoes en-route. Better, fill with emergency protein bars….
After all those beautiful descriptive passages I was just going to ask how Peter managed to scare off the police – thought that maybe he had started singing!
Ahh – the clue is at the very end of the post… the ‘PS’, after the ‘sign off’ picture…