Day 30 - Getting To Bari

# Campari & Soda: 0, # Gelati: 1

In spite of the late night, I still woke up early this morning.  My landlord is on holiday in Sicily, so isn't around to collect the keys from me. However, he asked his cleaning lady to come around at 8:30am to do this in his stead.  She will pick up the keys and return my damage deposit.  I wanted to be sure I was up, washed and fed before she came.  Which, of course, meant I was ready with a good 20-30 minutes to spare.  Oh well, I can sleep on the train.

I had planned to buy myself a panino and pastry from a shop on my way to the station.  I had picked out a likely place a while back.  However, when I got there this morning I found that they don't open until 11am on a Sunday.  I ended up getting my panino from a horrible tourist trap selling mortadella opposite the station.  I got a panino with mortadella, parmigiano reggiano, rocket and a balsamic dressing.  A very fitting final Bolognese meal. It was delicious, if somewhat over-priced.

I got to the railway station in plenty of time as the Frecciarossa trains leave from a set of platforms four floors down.  Bologna Centrale is a horrible maze of a railway station and I wanted to allow time for
getting lost.  I got lost getting out when I arrived on the Frecciarossa from Milan.  However, the departure board swore my train was leaving from one of the regular platforms at ground level.  I was very nervous as I was worried it would switch to one of the underground platforms at the last minute and I would have to speedily navigate the maze while lugging my suitcase.  However, it wasn't lying and I had no trouble getting on my train.

That the was the last of the good news about the train.  I had planned to sleep on the train but there were a group of senior citizens behind me who were on a group tour.  There was at least 8 of them as the seats were groups of 4 around a table on each side of the aisle.  The Did Not Stop Talking the whole time.  They didn't even provide me with good Italian practice as there were are least 2 or 3 conversations going on at once.  One conversation that was repeated at every stop was easy to follow at least.  It went something like: 

• Dove siamo?  (where are we?)
• Poggia
• Eh?
• Poggia
• Eh?
• POGGIA!
• Ah

I made it to Bari on time and used Google to direct me to my B&B - the B&B Murex.  I must remember not to rely on Google again.  It sent me down a street which is famous for having women sitting in the doorways of their houses making pasta.  This street is lined with stalls selling their pasta and hoards of tourist taking photos and blocking the way.  I found a sharp "Permesso" and even sharper elbows were needed to get through.  My B&B is at the end of this street and up a lethally steep flight of slippery marble stairs.  The host offered to take my bag for me.  I let him.  And I don't care if that means giving up my feminist credentials as those stairs are not safe.

After checking in I went to see the Castello Svevo di Bari.  It won't be open tomorrow.  In addition to being a Norman castle, which is interesting in its own right, it also houses a museum about the history of Puglia from the Bronze Age through to the conquest by Rome.  They don't have a lot of items but what they do have is beautifully presented.   The absolute best part, which was just mind blowing, was a display they had in what was the main hall of the castle.  They had projectors set up so that it looked as if there were large windows/arches along each wall and at each end.  In addition, there were 3 areas in the floor.  The scene in each one ran for about 1 or 2 minutes and the whole sequence took about 15 minutes.  Each scene showed life before the Romans came.

One video might be people having a meal, or a woman with a baby, or just chickens and horses wandering around.  Here one of the floor scenes is showing a meal, while the wall one is of a man pretending to be an archer.

 

There were speakers too so you got matching sound (waves, wind, sounds of fighting).  Sometimes the images in the floor were just their own thing, but sometimes they showed shadows from the videos on the end walls, as if they were windows.  

In this short video, the two men painted on the vase came around from the back of the vase and wrestled.

This one was a man trying to push over a tree.  I have no idea why.

The sequence ended with the Romans coming and fighting with the locals, before it looped around to the start again.  Some of it was just plain odd, but all of it was just fabulous.  

After the museum I went to the Gelateria Gentile.   I had tried to go before the museum but the line was ridiculously long.  When I came out, I was lucky enough to get there during a brief lull, so the line was just long.  There were only 15 people in front of me.   Their gelati was good but I bet I can find other places in Bari where it is just as good and I don't have to wait for so long.

I then went to check out a pizzeria my host here recommended.  It is in a piazza nearby.  However, there was a woman having a complete meltdown in the piazza.  She was shrieking abuse at someone in a flat above the pizzeria.  She was literally hopping mad.  I have never seen anyone actually do that.  I beat a hasty retreat, although she was drawing quite a crowd.  I don't know what her problem was.  Whoever she was shouting at never bothered to reply.

I ambled around the old city of Bari, checking out other options for dinner.  The host here had recommended two restaurants as well, but one didn't open until 7:45pm and the other not until 8pm.  I was too tired and hungry to wait that long.  I finally ended up at Mediterranea Pizzeria.  The location was poor, as it is on the very edge of the old city and has views over a car park.  I had an Emilian pizza - one with prosciutto and parmesan.  I say parmesan deliberately as I'm sure both ingredients came from the supermarket and were not the "true" ingredients.  However, by this time I was so tired I was struggling to speak coherently in English, never mind Italian.  The pizza was just decent, but I've had worse.  The main thing it was cheap, came quickly and was filling.  

I'll make sure I eat better tomorrow.