Ferry to Bari, Italy

Packed up our things and headed down to the ole ferry terminal to get a spot for the ferry to Bari. We had checked in the night before so it was just show up and get in line. Not a lot of traffic going to Bari but enough to make parking on the ship a bit challenging.

Takes all day to cross the channel so we found a nice spot by a window in the non-smoking section and relaxed. We get in to Bari at 6pm but probably won’t get off the ship till around 7-715pm. Takes a while to unload.

The apartment was much like the others we’ve rented, one-bedroom, air conditioned, blah, blah, blah. Antonio, the owner, had stocked the fridge with beer, water, fruit drink, and left us a bottle of wine and cookies. Nice guy! Time to unpack our things, relax, and enjoy that bottle of wine from Antonio.

Up early, around 7:00am, had breakfast, now off to Old Town to find a very special basilica. Yeah, another church! Bari is a walkable town, which is good for us so we don’t have to drive. Old Town has a lot of narrow, very narrow, cobblestone streets with numerous archways. The archways have become the trade mark of Bari and were the original entry gates into the city.

The walk to Old Town is about 20 minutes along the marina where we spotted some fishermen selling their catch. Mostly sardines, small fish, and urchins (YUK! Right Jessie!), but also a few octopus. The men had these octopus in a basin of water and were swishing it back and forth fairly violently. When asked what he was doing, he replied cleaning them. Save it pal, I’m not hungry!

Made it to our destination, Old Town, now to find that very unique basilica. Anybody do their homework? Do you know what basilica I’m talking about? I thought not and that may put you on the naughty list. We’re looking for the Basilica of San Nicola or Saint Nicolas to us.

Yep, the very same jolly ole man that we look for every December 25^th, was actually a real person, a man of the cloth, and he is buried here in Bari in the crypt of his basilica. No joke. We made our way inside the basilica looking for the crypt when we saw that most common sight, tour groups, lots of them. Had to be 200 people clambering around the nave, altar, and crypt so we decided to come back later. There are a few other sites here so off to it, but first…

It was the Romans that gave Bari its name, they called it Barium. After the fall of the Roman Empire, 476AD, Barium became the seat of the Byzantine (remember them, they were the Eastern part of the Roman Empire that adopted Christianity) Governor of Apulia, or Puglia, in 885AD. Apulia is Latin and is also known as “Puglia” in Italian.

Peter the Hermit, considered one of the most influential preachers of the First Crusade, preached here as the Crusaders departed for war. And then things got bad, William the Bad. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t really a bad man, he just didn’t take any you-know-what from his barons. So, when he died, they bestowed the title of “William the Bad” on his epitaph. Oh, he did raze the city of Barium, but in a nice way.

Short history lesson, now back to the sites. We found another church, Bari Cathedral or the Cathedral of Saint Sabinus. The present building was constructed between the 12^th and 13^th century so Gothic architecture, and built on the ruins of the Imperial Byzantine cathedral that was destroyed by Bill the Bad in 1156. It has a single nave and beautifully decorated arch vaulted ceiling. The crypt contains relics of Saint Sabinus, a bishop in the early Christian church who resisted the Diocletianic Persecution and was martyred.

Back to the Basilica of San Nicola. The basilica is a three-nave apse, decorated in typical Gothic style. The center nave is a bit stark with the ceiling being the most elaborately decorated. It is decorated with renderings of Saint Nicolas and the Virgin Mary created by artist Carlo Rosa from 1661-1671.  As you enter the basilica, there is a statue of Saint Nicola encased in glass to your left. The depiction is a bit surprising considering it shows a rather dark-skinned man as St. Nicola, nothing like the Caucasian, bearded man we envision as “Merry Ole St. Nic”. And why is this man different?

Seems that Saint Nicola was originally from Turkey. Yep, the tale of St. Nicola says that he is the patron saint for, get ready, sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, and students. He also known as Nicolas the Wonderworker. His reputation evolved among the pious (dutiful), as was common for early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the traditional model of Santa Claus! There you have it. St. Nicola would slip goodies on the low-low to pawnbrokers for a deal on a gold watch or a guitar. (My interpretation, not verified.) One story has to be told. It goes like this: during a terrible famine, a butcher lured 3 children into his shop and killed them. He had planned to sell their remains as ham. St. Nicola found out about this and resurrected the children, and gave the butcher a good talking to. This story can be seen in numerous stained glass and wood carvings throughout the world. Because this story is so popular, it has often been depicted as St. Nicola and 3 naked children standing in a barrel. Doesn’t have the same impact, sorry.

OK, pictures from the cathedral:

More Bari walking pics in the next post. We found a castle!