M: We had both slept well, but the medical report was a C- . I was still holding my own with that wretched cough, but Anne woke with a headache and a seriously running nose. No adventures for her today. Well no big ones anyway. I appointed myself to do a foot recce of Bari.

Our apartment at 48 via Trento is nicely situated for both the railway station and the new part of Bari. The estimates for getting to the old town were about 15 minutes. These proved to be true. First observation about a sunlit Bari was that the traffic and parking- while not of the conformist Anglo Aussie type are still recognisable as belonging somewhere inside the boundaries of law and order.

As you walk up via Cavour, you are immediately struck by how wide the road is, and how grand some of the older buildings are. The Teatro Petruzzelli, Teatro Margherita ( currently in restauro) and Bank of Italy are all massive. They lack only public open spaces in front of them to complete the spectacle.

Entering the picturesque old town I was immediately put in mind of Venice without the canals. The reason? Narrow, largely car free, winding streets that are very difficult to navigate. As we had read, people stood on doorsteps, dried their clothes on racks over - and even in - the street, and generally conducted life outdoors- until the rain came- albeit briefly.

My meandering took me to the seafront - the only way I could think of to get me to the Basilica of St Nicholas. Here- the seafront - I saw a couple of guys who had caught octopuses. I'd read about this, where they catch them and tenderise them on the spot. I saw the equipment, but not the act! I finally located the Basilica.

After a couple of hours I headed back to see how the patient was. A rest, a shower and ibuprofen had worked their magic, so after lunch, but still during siesta time, we both headed for the old town. I showed Anne the highlights, and this time we both went into St Nicholas. A most imposing, and indeed unusual, church. Flying arches cross under the elaborately decorated ceiling. Perhaps most interesting is the fact that they are not parallel as they cross above you. A picture of one of the ceiling panels is attached to the blog. I was curious about why Putin donated a statue of St Nicholas to the church. This became clear when we went down into the crypt to hear prayers in Russian, signs in Russian and lots of Russian worshippers.

The old iPad hasn't got enough memory to download iTunes movies, so we watched the classic North by Northwest on the phone. needs must!