Touring around Bari, Puglia’s Capital

Bari is a city of 300,000 or more. In a two-night stay, we concentrated our time and efforts on a private tour of two other highly recommended locales, so we’ll have to consider returning to visit it’s old town, Barrivecchia.

We took the train from Lecce to Bari, about a 2 1/2-hour trip.

From the station, it was a “12-minute walk” down the street to our accommodation, the Mercure Villa Romanezza Carducci. That’s in quotes because it proved to be a mildly annoying walk with our rollaboards along bumpy and narrow sidewalks next to a busy street.

Still, we arrived safely and checked in to our pleasant room.

It overlooks the “largest private park in Bari,” and the view from our 5th floor window impressed us enough to wander around the grounds.

The hotel’s restaurant, Ristorante Carducci, was well reviewed, so we decided to splurge and dine in.

We had to try a bottle of one of the regional wines, and this one was reasonably priced and more than satisfactory.

The regional cuisine is distinctive, and we enjoyed another version of Orecchiette.

The risotto was true comfort food. Every time we order a risotto dish, we wonder why we don’t order it more often.

The Tagliata was excellent.

Time for bed as a full day of touring was scheduled for the next morning.