Sunday 31.1217 NYE

A:
No trains to catch today, so we had a leisurely start to the day, with only midday mass at San Nicola and the walking tour at 4 on the agenda. We walked up through the new town to the old historic part of Bari, stopping for cappuccino on the way "al banco" ie standing. In Rome I had started to ask for coffee with milk instead as I realised that with a cappuccino order I ended up with froth. It seems to be a little different in each area.

M:
A few words about the inner parts of Italian cities that we have seen, and the "non-touristy" parts in particular. In a word, they are ugly. Block after block of featureless buildings, erratically parked vehicles, footpaths in need of repair, more than a fair share of caca, and graffiti everywhere. Yet, if you look a little closer, the story changes. Every shop sweeps and scrubs the footpath out front. The windows are polished to a high sheen. The displays are often works of art. On the domestic front, you can look into the lobbies of apartment buildings and they are pristine. One can only assume that the interiors of the apartments are the same. As the externals beyond ones doorstep seem to be nobody's concern, the care of one's own footprint seems to be in indirect proportion.
A:
We went to noon mass at San Nicola- the most interesting church in Bari and the one where the saint's bones are said to be in the tomb underneath. The Russians have a great devotion to him also and in fact there is a statue of him outside donated by Putin, with an inscription in both Italian and Russian. When we were checking the crypt out the other day there were prayers in Russian happening next to the tomb.

Today the mass and the singing were lovely and there were a few tourists wandering around but they were generally respectful. On our return to our apartment, we walked past a street stall selling fried polenta so got some and walked around like the locals- delicious. I then spotted an apron for 1E. I decided I needed one for practical purposes, not just a memento and I've used it already. I had seen one in Lecce which was lovely and not commercial and basically had - Anna, Queen of the Kitchen- written beautifully on it but at 21E I decided against it.

On the walk back, we heard some very loud music and walked towards a large outdoor stage on a closed off via Vittorio Emmanuele. Just as we approached there was a surge of excitement in the crowd, particularly among the young girls and many had their phones in the air recording. I asked a woman near us who the singer who'd just arrived was- Marco Mengoni. A google check later informed us that he has won the Italian X Factor (third season), won the San Marino song contest and also represented Italy at Eurovision. He is from Viterbo, near Rome, and he can sing! What lucky timing for us.

We also managed to find a replacement chopping board for the unit as we have ruined the one here in the dishwasher. (The laminate just disappeared!)

Back at the unit we had a quick lunch and set off for a walking tour of Bari,commencing at 4pm, and advertised to go 90 minutes. The guide was late but kept our attention till almost 6.30. She was excellent and apart from the fact that she spoke in Italian only (our fault for not realising) it was well worth it.

M: I never did catch the guide's name. As the tour signs had been in English, I rashly assumed that the tour would also be in English. As Anne indicated, wrong. So, my challenges were (a) to hear the guide over the increasingly frequent sounds of fireworks being let off, (b) to understand what she was saying and (c) in the midst of an almost uninterrupted commentary to relay a few key points to Anne. At this point, I'd better take over, as I guess I got about 80percent of what was said, and Anne got 10 percent of that!

Let's call the guide X. X explained that the building housing the tourist office was the old fish market, and it stood at the boundary of the old city. Directly opposite, and now in use as an exhibition space is the old meat market. We moved from there to the Piazza Mercantile - the merchant, quarter. The building that used to be the local parliament, and then the first theatre dominates the square. X explained that Bari has a strong connection with theatre, and that there are now several grand ones in town.

Next stop the Column of Infamy, where those who could not pay their debts were tied naked for their failures. From there we walked along what was once the ramparts of a fortification that literally extended into the ocean. LMussolini built a wonderful promenade which now extends some distance between the old and new ports. From there to San Nicola. X explained that it was Romanesque architecture. The church was built on the site of a preexisting palace of one of the conquering nations. It is said that when Nicholas' bones were brought ashore on a cart, the bullocks got as far as the current church site and simply sat down, seen as a sign from God as to where they should set. Much of the old palace was used in the construction of the crypt and later the Basilica itself. X spoke of the fact that the bones apparently still exude some kind of liquid - referred to as manna- which is collected and distributed each year. Subsequent reading indicates that it may even be sold in the Basilica shop!

We stopped at the cathedral, where mass was in full swing. That didn't deter X who took us in. Both San Nicola and the Cathedral had once been decorated internally with plaster in baroque style. When this was subsequently removed, a deal of damage was done to the underlying stone, and frescoes. This could clearly be seen in the cathedral. Between groups like us ignoring the sensible advice not to enter during mass, and incredibly loud fireworks going off in the square outside, it would have been hard for the priest to preach. He just ploughed on regardless!

A: We went through the street where the well known orrieche are hand made. People had pretty much packed up for the evening, so we didn't see the process, but one house had some stock still for sale. We have seen this many times on the TV- but the pasta was just sitting there with nobody about. This pasta is rolled deftly using a knife and a thumb into an ear shape, hence the name which means little ear. After some knocking and calling out a woman appeared and was happy to sell us a bag which we cooked for our dinner. The four other people in our group also bought some.

M: We staggered off home after an unexpectedly full day. Just as I was going in the front door a bunger went off that was so big it set of car alarms and I felt the concussion wave from a hundred metres away. Matteo, our caretaker asked if we had them in Australia. I said no. It is illegal. He simply said: "Here too"!

We were too tired (and still with cold symptoms) to stay up for midnight. However, seeing the new year in wasn't a problem, because right on midnight it sounded like we were in a war zone. The fireworks were all around us, and continued solidly for at least a half hour, and then sporadically for another 40 minutes or so. Welcome to 2018!