We’re up at a decent hour today because we’re heading to Bari. I’m a bit nervous about driving into Bari because it’s a big city and because of its reputation for crime. But I’m on a dual quest, to see the church of San Nicola and to get another Buon Ricordo plate at Piccini Ristorante.
We have breakfast as usual, touch base with our British friends, one set going to Castel Del Monte and I believe the other to Alborabello, review our maps and hit the road. We opt not to take the bypass but instead get off the 379 south of Bari and ride along the coast road into the city. The area we see as we approach isn’t in the “best shape” but probably no more than some of the worn out neighborhoods that surround many of our cities. As we get closer to the modern downtown, Chris gets excited as he sees other runners along the beach. I find this running obsession rather strange.
Parking, ah yes forget my first two quests, within a short time of driving down to and around the city, my new quest is to find parking. Where are all the lots, street level, underground, above ground? We find none. Finally, after combing some of the grid like blocks of the old city, we get back on the road along the coast, past the old city, towards where the cruise ships dock, and find a broken down lot near the tip of the peninsula. We don’t care how much it costs, get our ticket, pull in, and leave poor Claudio behind to defend himself.
After skirting the walls for about fifteen minutes, we finally find an entrance to the old city. Now I understand how Morton could get so lost. High buildings, winding streets make for a total loss of direction. Not to mention, I have no map!
We blindly stumble upon the Basilica but can’t seem to find San Nicola. I finally ask a passerby; I don’t think Chris will ever ask. Our man goes out of his way to lead us to the street leading to San Nicola (third time on this trip). Once we’re heading in the right direction, you can definitely tell because the number of tacky souvenir stands increase, as we get closer.
The piazza in front of the church is mobbed as a bride and groom leave the church and then another party leaves some sort of building to the left of the church. Finally, as we look around we notice several more brides either newly wed or waiting to take the plunge. I do not know if it’s some sort of holiday or if Monday is a typical wedding day here but I’d imagine this place could rival Vegas for brides.
We sneak into San Nicola through a side door and explore. It’s a beautiful Romanesque church but with a lovely ceiling not the starkness I’m used to seeing. We find San Nicola’s crypt downstairs and are awfully quiet as a priest conducts some sort of service at a small chapel to the left of the tomb. He doesn’t look like a Roman Catholic priest but more like Greek Orthodox and Chris says the service doesn’t sound like a mass (though if the mass were in Greek, I’m not sure he recognize it).
As we make our way to leave, we get caught by another wedding processional and have to wait for a break before we can sneak out. On our way out of the Old City, we stop at Frederick’s other castle (really some other Norman dude, then William the Bad destroyed it and Frederick rebuilt it). We also learned that one of Frederick’s wives is buried in Andria; now I wish we’d spent a bit of time in Andria to see her tomb but Chris is happy that we escaped that journey unscathed.
We head into the new city that reminds me of New York with its grid design, restaurants and plenty of shopping. We spy a TIM store but it’s closed because it’s Monday and won’t reopen until 4:00. We continue our stroll in the new city going past some pretty cool looking shops, some closing now for siesta, others closed because it’s Monday morning. Chris spies an excellent soccer store on Via Piccini but it too is closed. We also find a huge underground parking garage of course one block further up than we traveled.
We find the restaurant, Piccini, but for the life of us cannot figure out how to get in. There’s no handle on the door we see, or a bell to ring. We’re about to give-up when the door slides open, (ah it’s a slide), and we ask the man leaving if the restaurant is open. He’s not an employee but turns around and yells to the hostess, asking for us and she replies they are.
We enter and she seats us in the narrow, long front room. Where eventually one other patron joins us but the other businessmen who enter are seated in a back room. Again, I find this, like other Buon Ricordo places to be large and with a very small lunch crowd.
We eye the menu but do not see a Buon Ricordo specialty and I get a pit in my stomach. I ask our server, and she explains they are out of plates and she does not know when she will receive more. Bummer. Major Bummer.
For antipasti Chris orders Calamaretti all ‘aglio con purea di fave (12€) and I get Scamorza Grille’ in salsa di Acciughe Formaggi (8€). I’m not crazy about mine; it lacks flavor but we like Chris’s. We do not have primi but for our secondi Chris gets Grigliata con pesce e crostace (19€) while I get Branzino (15€). We find my fish tastier and less “fishy” than Chris’s fish but neither dish is anything to rave about. We enjoy the house white, a slightly sweet but refreshing wine actually made from a dessert wine grape, Terre di Orazio Aglianico (16€). With water, caffè, and coperto our bill comes to 80€. For the quality of food, I don’t find this worth the price, and while Chris gives it one star (if you’re there, go), I have to believe you can do better (of course, if they had the plate I’d probably have a different opinion).
After lunch, as we stroll back towards the car (Chris doesn’t want to hang around for another hour waiting for the soccer store to open), I stop for a gelato. They don’t have pistachio either so I end up with nocciola. Chris passes because they don’t have coco. Of course on the next block we find a better-looking gelato place that has both coco and pistachio. Chris gets his new usual, and I lament the fact that I did not wait.
We retrieve our car and pay a whopping 2.50€ for parking there for over four hours. Chris goes into his routine, car rental $1100, lunch 80€, finding parking in Bari, priceless. We immediately exclaim this to be the best value of our trip.
We head back out of Bari the same we entered along the coastal route and other than one wrong turn when it came time to get back on the 379, we have no problems returning home.
Once home, we change into our exercise gear. Chris runs while I walk along the SS16 but I find the road too treacherous, high car speeds with little to no shoulder along the way makes for a stressful workout for me. Not to mention, the three dead cats and one dead hedgehog or porcupine I spy along the way, I feel more worked up when I return than I did before I left. I won’t walk along that road again.
Next, it’s time for a shower and to get ready for dinner. We’re dining at Il Frantoio tonight and after Saturday’s experience, we can’t wait to see what Rosalba cooks up for us.
As we sit in the courtyard enjoying our now ritualistic pre-dinner drinks and snacks, we chat with our Swiss friends a bit comparing notes from the day and watch as a group of Americans on a bike tour arrive. Later I speak with one of the representatives from the company, as doing a bike tour is something I’d like to try. They’re from Sandquist Europe an operation run by Geoffrey Sandquist who happens to be on this tour with them. (www.sandquisteurope.com). It seems like a good operation, and they must have good taste if they pick Il Frantoio as one of there hotels but Chris thinks they spend too much time (one day biking, two days off) in any location; me, I like that.
Next, after the bike tour, a group, dressed quite extravagantly, that turns out to be from the San Domenica arrives to partake in Rosalba’s dinner. Armondo asks if we’d like to join the tour he’s about to give them of the facility and we accept. We tour the gardens, first the citrus grove, designed to capture heat, so on a cool day, if you want to warm up this is the place to go. Next, the herb gardens, designed to catch the winds and stay cooler, hot days this is the place. At the far end of the herb garden, you’ll find the peacocks in a pen and a small shrine dedicated to Mary that Armondo built for Rosalba, who attended school with the nuns.
Within the complex, we visit the chapel where the couple renewed their vows the other night as well as the old olive press underneath the main building. Armondo points out the different types of construction on the main building (the slanted roof from hundreds of years ago when Puglia received plenty rain, to the flat roofs of a more recent arid Puglia). The farm has been here for hundreds of years and the buildings added over time.
After our twenty-minute tour, we hang in the courtyard for a few minutes until Armondo rings the bell for dinner. We’re sitting on our own tonight, which is nice, but both of us later believe we should have invited our Swiss friends to join us.
Dinner again is delicious; it follows the same pattern as Saturday night, tonight we’re served:
Antipasti:
Scherzo di Cucino con patè di lampascioni (little salted bread with wild onions patè)
Spuma di carote e zucchine allo zafferano (Carrots and zucchini flan with saffron)
Fagionlini in fricassea in cesto di pecorino (Green-beans fricassee in sheep cheese basket)
Terrina di grano filante con melanzane e origano di San Biagio (smoked tureen of hard durum wheat with aubergines and San Biagio oreganum)
Primi:
Nastri alla Borragine con carciofi e asparagi (Hand made pasta with wild borrage with artichokes and asparagus)
Seccondi (served with Bottaccia, Nero di Troia Torre Quarto)
Zampina di maiale con sponzali al cotto di vino (Pork “Zampina” with young onions at sweet cooked wine)
Insalata mista con Nasturzi (Mixed salad with Nasturtium)
Dolce:
Macedonia di frutta fresca (fresh fruit salad)
Quando lo zabaione è semifreddo
For our digestivo tonight I have mandarin while Chris has Angela pick one for him and she chooses Lauren, which he loves.
After dinner, the organization through which the San Domenico group is traveling has arranged for Puglian folk dancers to perform, so we all get to sit in the courtyard and watch, very enjoyable.
Finally, about midnight we grab our bottles of water from the picnic table and go to bed.
