John Edward Cooper’s Notes

[i] The original information on the website was:

This morning we have a guided tour of Bari’s old town, nestling beautifully on the Adriatic, a thriving walled port even before the Romans, capital of Byzantine Italy and as important as Venice during Norman times. There is much to see: an imposing medieval fortress dominates the old town and the massive Romanesque cathedral has some stunning 11th century frescos. Bari’s highlight is the Basilica di San Nicola, whose beautiful 900 year old vaulted crypt is the final resting place of Saint Nicholas – Patron Saint of Russia but better known to us as Father Christmas!
Leaving Bari we call at delightful Trani, an important port during medieval times with extensive trading networks and some lovely Romanesque architecture but most of all is today a picturesque fishing port.
The countryside changes as we climb the deserted yet spectacular Gargano peninsular coastal road. The warm air is heavy with that unmistakable Mediterranean aroma of pine and wild flowers and we soon arrive in charming Vieste staying three nights with breakfast and dinner, at … the Palace Hotel Vieste… ideally situated about 250 metres from the beach next to the atmospheric old town.
The Palace Hotel is the tasteful conversion of a 15th century noble’s house into a lovely classic hotel. All rooms are individually decorated, spacious and of course air-conditioned. There is a bar and restaurant, plus free use of the private beach with two sun beds and an umbrella (June to Sept) per room.

We’d been told that we would be setting out at 8am, so the alarm clock was set for ca.5.45am. I shaved, showered; we had breakfast, etc. I had a last look out of the window of our room before we left.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 07:38:06
View from the window of our room at the Hilton Garden Inn near Matera

There were the central lifts at one end of the corridor from our room, but also, through the heavy fire-door at the other end of the corridor, service lifts by the staircase. It was the latter that we used when we took the suitcases down, and checked out. After boarding the coach, we headed some 35 miles in a northerly direction, and stopped for toilets and refreshments at a roadside service station near the town of Modugno on the outskirts of Bari. I had a caffè americano and Janet a Coca Cola Zero (09:06 on the till receipt). Then we went a few miles into Bari, and were dropped outside the castle, originally 12th century Norman, but rebuilt by the Swabian Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1233, where we met our guide Tiziana. As on the day before yesterday, we had our radios with us. I used my Sennheiser earphones, so that I would get the sound in both ears.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:08:48
Castello Normanno-Svevo, Bari
Paola leads the party across the road to where Tiziana (in white) is waiting.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:08:48 (detail)
Paola leads the party across the road to where Tiziana (in white) is waiting.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:11:36
Southern bastion of Castello Normanno-Svevo, Bari

Tiziana led us a short distance by the south-east moat of the castle along Piazza Federico II di Svevia, before crossing over the piazza and leading us through an arch in the building into a narrow alley.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:12:40
Castello Normanno-Svevo seen from Piazza Federico II di Svevia

Both in front of the arch and just beyond it, there were women seated at tables, making orecchiette by hand.


Image from Google Street View


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:15:20
Making orecchiette


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:15:20 (detail)
Making orecchiette


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:15:32
Orecchiette

I thought we were going to proceed along the alley, Arco Basso, but we were called back to return through the arch.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:16:50
Arco Basso, Bari


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:20:40
Making orecchiette in Arco Basso


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:20:40 (detail)
Making orecchiette in Arco Basso

We turned right at the far end of Piazza Federico II di Svevia into Piazza dell’Odegitria, where before us was the Cathedral, which we visited. It was constructed, mostly in the late 12th century but partly in the 13th, on the site of the ruins of a Byzantine cathedral destroyed in 1156 by William I “the Wicked” of Sicily, and dedicated to Saint Sabinus, a bishop of the archdiocese, whose relics had been brought there in the 9th century.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:26:14
Cattedrale di San Sabino seen from Piazza dell’Odegitria

There were three portals in the façade. A wedding was about to take place, and there was a small group of men from the wedding party waiting outside the central portal. We entered by the right portal.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:27:26
Cattedrale di San Sabino: central portal


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:31:38
Cattedrale di San Sabino: statues on the architrave of the central portal

Tiziana pointed out that the matronea (women’s galleries) above the pillars either side of the central nave were false, because there was no floor beneath them.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:32:40
Cattedrale di San Sabino: looking forward to the apse
Upper left: false matroneum


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:33:54
Cattedrale di San Sabino: looking back to the central portal and rose window


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:34:16
Cattedrale di San Sabino


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:34:32
Cattedrale di San Sabino


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:34:48
Cattedrale di San Sabino


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:40:26
Cattedrale di San Sabino: crypt


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:40:44
Cattedrale di San Sabino

The bride arrived while we were there, but my attempts at photography were hopelessly blurred, so I deleted them. From there we went more or less northwards along a narrow alley, turning right at its end and passing under an archway into the square in front of the rather “chunky”, castle-like Basilica of St. Nicholas.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:42:28
Baptistery (now the sacristy) of Cattedrale di San Sabino


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:44:36
Proceeding to the Basilica di San Nicola along Strada delle Crociate


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:45:10
Proceeding to the Basilica di San Nicola along Strada delle Crociate


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:49:02
Archway to Piazza San Nicola
Beyond the Basilica, another archway; and beyond that, the Adriatic Sea to the east


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:49:56
Basilica di San Nicola


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:51:22
Basilica di San Nicola


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:51:50
Bell-tower of Cattedrale di San Sabino to the south, seen from Piazza San Nicola

Again, there were three portals in the façade, and we entered by the right one.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:52:30
Basilica di San Nicola: central portal


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:52:58
Basilica di San Nicola: waiting to enter the right-hand portal


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:54:06
Basilica di San Nicola


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:54:26
Basilica di San Nicola

The matronea were real here.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:54:34
Basilica di San Nicola


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:54:58
Basilica di San Nicola


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:55:58
Basilica di San Nicola


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:56:10
Basilica di San Nicola

After I’d looked around, I could see neither Tiziana nor the rest of the group, though I could hear her on the radio. So I wandered down into the crypt to see whether they were there, but they weren’t.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:56:26
Basilica di San Nicola: crypt


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:57:10
Basilica di San Nicola: crypt


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:57:22
Basilica di San Nicola: crypt

I left there and found the group still in the nave;—


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:59:02
Basilica di San Nicola


Friday 23 September 2016 — 10:59:12
Basilica di San Nicola

—and shortly afterwards, Tiziana led us all down to where I’d just been. I’d entered by the steps on the right; we now entered by the steps on the left. There was a service of Russian Orthodox pilgrims going on, with deep-voiced chanting, so we tried to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible. For the crypt housed the relics of St. Nicholas and was therefore an important pilgrimage destination. The relics, Tiziana told us afterwards, were stolen from their original shrine in Myra in 1087 by sailors from Bari, on the pretext of moving them to a safer location after the town was invaded by Saracens. The Basilica was built specifically to shelter Nicholas’s remains.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:03:44
Basilica di San Nicola: crypt


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:04:30
Basilica di San Nicola: crypt

From there, we skirted round the north and east sides of the Basilica, and continued in that direction (more or less southwards), through Barivecchia (“old Bari”) — which till fairly recently (with redevelopment and the opening of bars and other visitor-venues), Tiziana told us, had been a “no go” area because of high rates of crime — across Piazza Mercantile, as far as Piazza del Ferrarese.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:11:22
Right: north side of Basilica di San Nicola


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:12:36
Right: east side of Basilica di San Nicola


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:16:18
Proceeding along Strada Palazzo di Città


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:18:24
Piazza Mercantile


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:19:42
Piazza Mercantile


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:21:48
Piazza del Ferrarese


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:21:48 (detail)
Tiziana leading the way


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:22:08
Piazza del Ferrarese


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:22:50
Former church, now a cultural centre (Auditorium Diocesano Vallisa), backing onto Piazza del Ferrarese


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:24:00
Remains of Via Traiana, a second-century route, an alternative to Via Appia, from Brindisium to Rome

Here Tiziana left us, and we were given free time till midday for refreshments or shopping. Janet and I went to a nearby bar; I had a small Leffe Blond on draught and she a Coca Cola Zero.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:56:32
“Eddie” the lizard on the Via Traiana site


Friday 23 September 2016 — 11:57:32
Another view of the Via Traiana site

From Bari we went the 25 miles west-northwest to Trani. We arrived ca.1pm, outside Bagni Pubblici in Via Fra’ Diego Alvarez, Trani, where we were to meet again at 2.45pm.


Image from Google Street View, June 2016
Fancy tour coach on hire to Riviera (just the same as ours) outside the Bagni Pubblici at Via Fra’ Diego Alvarez 75, Trani

Paola led us all down as far as the castle, and our free time started, to have lunch and maybe explore. Janet and I walked from there, more or less eastwards, past the cathedral, as far as the road overlooking the harbour.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 13:18:42
Trani harbour, seen from Via Porta Vassalla


Friday 23 September 2016 — 13:20:10
Moles either side of the harbour entrance, seen from Via Porta Vassalla

Seeing no seafront bars or restaurants, we turned left at the end of Via Archivio,—


Friday 23 September 2016 — 13:21:08
Via Archivio, Trani


Friday 23 September 2016 — 13:22:04
Via Archivio, Trani

—went along narrow Via San Nicola, and entered Piazza Cesare Battisti, where we found a small establishment Baciuco Bistrot. It was a quirky place, with a moped attached to the wall, above an antique radio standing on an antique gramophone. The wash basin in the toilet was a large metal stock-pot that had had a sink-drain fitted at the bottom. I had a large toasted sandwich with cheese and ham and black olive paste in it and a birra alla spina media, and Janet had one Coca Cola Zero. She wanted two but thought it prudent to restrict it to one because of the long journey ahead. When I went to the counter to pay the bill I had an espresso while I was there. The bill came to €13.30 including 2 x €1 coperti (14:07 on the till receipt).


Friday 23 September 2016 — 13:41:32
Baciuco Bistrot, Trani


Friday 23 September 2016 — 13:53:16
Baciuco Bistrot, Trani

We made our way back to the castle, in order to get our bearings to return to the rendezvous point. We passed the Cathedral, dedicated to a St. Nicholas but a different one from the one of the Basilica in Bari.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:12:30
Cattedrale di San Nicola Pellegrino


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:13:10
Cattedrale di San Nicola Pellegrino


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:15:22
Cattedrale di San Nicola Pellegrino


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:17:34
Palazzo di Giustizia on the opposite side of Piazza Duomo from the Cathedral


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:17:34 (re-edited)
Palazzo di Giustizia


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:17:34 (re-edited, detail)
Palazzo di Giustizia


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:19:16
Castello Svevo


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:20:18
Castello Svevo


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:20:18 (detail)
Castello Svevo

From there we walked along Via Fra’ Diego Alvarez to where the coach was waiting.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:26:02
Chiesa di San Giacomo on the corner of Via Fra’ Diego Alvarez and Via Romito


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:27:06
In Via Fra’ Diego Alvarez looking left along Via Mario Pagano


Friday 23 September 2016 — 14:27:30
In Via Fra’ Diego Alvarez looking right along Via Mario Pagano


Image from Google Street View, June 2016

We set out on our journey to Vieste. Tomorrow was billed in the itinerary as a “free day”, but Paola told us of the availability of a boat trip to sea caves near Vieste for something like €13. Janet didn’t want to go — she planned to find a hairdresser’s — but was happy for me to put my name down on the list. We skirted by large salt evaporation ponds on our right; beyond them to the north was the town of Margherita di Savoia.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 15:18:30
Salt evaporation ponds; (background:) Margherita di Savoia

Where the Strada Provinciale 61 crossed the road we were on, we turned right and went along that,—


Friday 23 September 2016 — 15:20:56
Margherita di Savoia, seen from Strada Provinciale 61 across the salt evaporation ponds

—turning left after we entered Margherita di Savoia. We stopped for a “comfort break” somewhere after that. Ahead of us the mountains of Gargano came into view.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 16:06:42
In the background, the mountains of Gargano

Our route to Vieste took us along the Gargano promontory on the winding coast road, sometimes hugging the cliff-side with a sheer drop to the right. The roadside prickly pears of the plain were replaced by densely forested hillsides. Before we arrived at Vieste, which is built on and around a headland, we stopped a few headlands away at a viewpoint, where there was a sixteenth-century watch- and signal-tower, Torre di San Felice.


Friday 23 September 2016 — 17:48:52
Views north from Torre di San Felice


Friday 23 September 2016 — 17:49:50
Views north from Torre di San Felice: Arco di San Felice


Friday 23 September 2016 — 17:50:04
Views north from Torre di San Felice: a further coastal tower, and (background:) Vieste


Friday 23 September 2016 — 17:51:34
Torre di San Felice

Between there and Vieste we passed many lidos, restaurants and bars, beach clubs, camping parks, etc. The hotel was situated on the north side of the town, close to the harbour to its north, and a couple of blocks away from the main, east–west running, shopping street to its south. In fact most of the main streets tended to run east–west; so although our approach to Vieste was from the south, and the hotel was due north of that, to get to it required a rather circuitous route west, north, and east through the outer part of the town. The handing out of keys was quickly accomplished, but getting ourselves with our luggage up to our room took a long time, because there was only one small lift. The couple in front of us could easily have made room for us to squeeze in but they didn’t. It would seem to be typical of me at this point to utter an expletive challenging the legitimacy of their parentage, but on this occasion it was Janet who uttered the word! This was the first in a series of things that annoyed her, in fact. (At least, though, I had no difficulty getting the room door open here!) I couldn’t set a combination for the safe in the room — all I got was “ERROR” — (annoyance №2) so Janet went downstairs to reception to report it. They did come and replace the batteries quite quickly. While Janet unpacked necessary things, I set up the computer and transferred 73 photos from my camera to the WD Elements HDD (19:07–19:11). I viewed them in Windows Photo Viewer, rotating 26 that needed it (19:13–19:17). Then, 7.30pm, we went down the flights of stairs, which were arranged around the lift-shaft, for dinner in the dining-room one level below the lobby and reception. I ordered a bottle of red wine, to drink half this evening and half tomorrow; but Janet was told that there was no Coca Cola Zero (annoyance №3). But she’d seen some in the fridge in the room, so went back up to get that. Back up in the room, ca.9pm, Janet noticed the tiny shower-cubicle with the large, fixed shower-head in the ceiling, which she thought too claustrophobic to use, so she washed at the sink instead of showering (annoyance №4). But the plug in the sink wouldn’t stay in place, so when she filled the sink the water-level went down, and she had to leave the tap running (annoyance №5). … We were both in bed, ca.10.30pm.

[Saturday 24 September 2016]