The Foreign Me: Lo centro storico

To be honest, when I first chose Bari as the flight destination for this getaway, I mostly considered two things, how much the flight would cost and the connections (to countries on the other side of the Adriatic) that the city would offer. However, the more I explored about this area the more excited I got about Puglia alone. It is off the beaten track, especially at this time of the year, but that only adds to its charm! I started to plan where to go and quickly the idea of getting a ferry was dropped. Both the prices and duration of the trip made the decision quite easy. But at this time, it was actually good, because I was already excited about Bari and a few other places in the same region.

But starting with Bari. Apparently it was a no go kind of place until a few years ago because it was not very safe. Now it is much better and the historic centre can be visited even at night. Which is great, because it is beautiful when lit by the street lights alone.

Bari old town streets at night

On the other side of the old town, the sea front :)

Maybe this is the reason this is now a safer area, but it is still scary to find this in the centre of the old town

So Bari it was! After a tricky trip to the airport we (me and Andre) got the flight and arrived to Bari. I already knew there was a bus to the city and after asking around we got two tickets to centre Bari for 1€ each! When the bus came we understood why it was so cheap! The bus seemed about the same age as me and I would not be surprised if it was even older! We felt every bump on the street, the door wouldn't close completely and there were parts that looked like they wanted to get off the bus! Of course we laughed abut it more than we complained! This was already part of the experience! :)

Our bus. I have to say that it is very photogenic!! You can't even notice the dirty windows that well! :p

Not our bus but is good enough to illustrate how the buses are

But so, we had arrived! On the first night (when we arrived it was already night), we walked a bit around the city and had our first taste on great and non-expensive food! So much good food!!

One of the highlights of the city is the historical centre, lo centro storico which gives the name to this post. It is so because it has so much character and charm that it deserved its own post. The streets are narrow (like in most old cities) and create a maze that we didn't bother to study. We just walked around choosing the next street because of its colours, its smells and the music! Yes, music!! There was music everywhere in this part of the city! The doors to almost every house were open and quite often there was loud music coming from inside. A place so lively as... well, Italian!

The typical Italian street corner

There were things that marked this Italian stamp that I tried to portrait here:

- The religious elements. Portugal is quite a religious country, especially in the north, but you can find the catholic symbols mostly inside people's homes. In Italy this happens everywhere. So here are some photos showing the religious symbols that we could find just walking around: