Day 4 - A visit to Alberobello

 

We took the local bus from Bari to the unique village of Alberobello, which took about an hour.

We walked into the local square for coffee and pastry to begin the day.

We then walked up to the impressive Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian and then onto the stone church, Trullo Sovrano which is a heritage museum. 

We then made our way down to the main part of the village that is made up entirely of the  trulli stone houses. 

We wandered the narrow cobbled streets with most the old trulli houses now turned into souvenir shops or overpriced restaurants.

We did find a craft beer bar in one of the houses that served locally brewed beers, so we tasted a couple to quench our thirst.

We returned to the square for lunch at the Bar "Tropical", a restaurant with views of the trulli in the distance. 

We finished off the Day with a Gelato near the war memorial.

Day 3- A visit to Lecce

 We walked down to Bari central train station and jumped on the train to Lecce. The journey took around 1 hour 40 mins.

At Lecce stopped off for coffee and cake before exploring the old town.

First stop was the Roman amphitheatre, an amazing structure that was only discovered in 1901. This amphitheatre is in the heart of the modern city and is surrounded by modern buildings.

Next was the impressive Castello Carlo V Castilla, originally built in the 12th Century.

As we wondered the narrow, historical streets we came upon the breath taking frontage of Basilica di Santa Croce. The church has a richly decorated façade, with six smooth columns. The intricate carvings on the building look as if you are looking at a picture, there is so much to pick out. All this built around the sixteenth century.

There was so many historical buildings and churches to be seen in the streets of

the Old town.

We stopped of for lunch at the La Cucina di Mamma Elvira Restaurant where we enjoyed  a meal cold meats and cheese platter with a very nice glass of local chardonnay. 

On the trip home we stopped off at the port of Brindisi,  we only had time for a quick mooch about, we both said that we wished that we had  more time to explore the sights.

Bari -Day 2 - Bari waterfront and Old town.

 A fairly early start saw us strolling through the quiet streets of Bari towards the sea front, the weather was clear with bright sunshine.

Our first stop was the local fisherman's quay where they were selling shellfish and whole fish right off the boats. 

Leaving the harbour we saw a group of Paramedics and nurses performing a demonstration of life saving exercises to the beat of a Bee Gees song. We also visited a small street market.

We then made our way over to the Old town of Bari. This is a warren of narrow streets, churches and picturesque old buildings.

We visited  Basilica San Nicola where a service was being performed. The next stop off was for coffee and cake before continuing exploring some more of the Old town. 

We the walked through the modern part of the city towards the train station where we bought tickets for tomorrow's  trip. We then stopped off for a beer and something to eat in the city centre. 

In the evening  we ate at Al Raffaello restaurant,  the meal was very good and our waitresses,  Daniella was superb.