A walk around the old town in Bari

As Thibault was working in out apartment, I was left to wander around the old town on my own. But with my camera. And with non one to look fed up at me as I took yet another photo, this really was my photo day. Sorry. This will be a long post. I was slightly held back by having a stinking cold, This curtailed my site seeing to only a city museum, archaeological museum, cathedral, basilica and castle. you wouldn't want to see me in full health!

First photo was actually the church facing our apartment. Boring interior, and as we found later, a happy-clappy church rather than old time catholic.

 probably the most prominent feature of the old town is the Norman-Swabian castle. Originally built as a Norman fortification, ramparts were added in the 16th century, and it was made more comfortable to be used as a palace. It fell into harder times later and used as barracks and prison before being restored for the tourist trade. You can't get into most of it, but there is enough to comfortably justify the entrance fee.

 Inside the walls there is smattering of random bits of stonework.

The Romanesque entry point is rather lovely.

 And so you enter the large courtyard, with various entrances allowing one into odd bits of exhibition space.

 One can see the foundations of earlier building work.

For top kitsch you couldn't beat the exhibition devoted to St Nicholas (or Santa Claus as he is better known to us).

The best of the exhibitions were the rooms devoted to plaster casts of significant bits of stonework from all around Puglia, produced between 1898 and 1911 for various Great Exhibitions.

Next stop was the cathedral di San Sabino, dating back to the 12th century, after the previous one was destroyed by the comically named William the Bad. It has of course had  a few makeovers since, including a baroque one in the 18th century followed by a stripping back to a more medieval look in the 1950s.

The crypt

 Next up was the archaeological museum. I loved this. It hasn't got great exhibits, and very little in the way of statuary, but it is all beautifully presented, and it is built on and around an archaeological site.

One of the attractions of the museum was that I was their sole customer. Genuinely I came across no one else as I was there. And as I was leaving one of the museum guards chased after me and sent me back to a closed (and unsignposted door) which led out onto the attached excavation site. the same bloke came out with me as he was also the guard tasked with watching that the museum goers (ie me) didn't damage the archaeology.

 Now you wouldn't think it, but below is a church. Specifically the church of Santa Maria del Buon Consiglio. It is described as a roofless church, and that is a bit of an understatement, given its lack of walls too.But a nice thing to find down a backstreet.

not the patron saint of porcupines but a recognition of pigeon problems.

 The walk along the harbour area is nice, and not too touristy.

Cathedral done, but still the basilica to go. the basilica San Nicola

The crypt

 Like most churches of this size it has a fine collection of relics, ie assorted bits of bone and wood which someone conned the churches were once bits of a saint or a cross and so got wrapped in expanses of gold and silver.

This is the boundary of old and new town.  A palm tree lined boulevard.

The old town is much more atmospheric to just wander around.

And it has a City Museum. Which is phenomenally disappointing.

 So after that I just did some further random wandering. the streets of the old town are narrow and winding. Basically one just gets lost, but it is small enough that you will come out at one of the main sights eventually.

 This is Palazzo Zizzi. It is rather typical of the mansions in the old town, in that you could pass by it without a glance, as I suspect most tourists do. The main reason for this is that all the buildings are so compressed. You can't really stand back to get a good look at any of them. And much of their beauty lies in the courtyards within.

This tiny little church was the meeting point for the city's Venetian community way back in the 11th century. Yes St Mark's church here apparently dates to just after 1000AD.

This is the main square, where I waited for Thibault for dinner. This is the the Column of Justice, to which debtors were once chained to be publicly abused, like the stocks. Justice used to be tougher. the lion is probably Roman and nicked from some other monument, likely to be a tomb