This time, my well-deserved vacation fell in August. The dart thrown at the map landed at the top of the heel of the Italian boot—namely, Bari. Getting there was no problem, as the Wizz Air flight is direct and not too long, taking off right from Chopin Airport.
Because it was the middle of the night, we took a cab from the airport to the hotel, and that was a wrap on day one.
The heat messes up our plans
On the first day of our stay, we set out to scope out the area. However, it ended in failure, because the scorching heat literally fried our brains 😉 We were walking in circles like a dog chasing its tail 😉 We made another attempt late in the evening when the temperature dropped to 28 degrees.
Vacation in Bari – no tacky axes
Bari is a very pretty town, though the locals don’t entirely take advantage of it or promote it as a holiday resort. In my opinion, that’s a mistake. Fridge magnets, which we wanted to buy as souvenirs for family and friends, were only available in a few places—either by the fort or by the port. No souvenir stands, no traditional Polish highlander axes with “Bari” written on them, nothing 😛
The sunset at the port was one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Not a cloud in the pristine sky, an orange sun, and the gorgeous streak it left on the sea… I managed to capture it partially in the photos, but it’ll stay in my memory for a long time anyway. We got to the beach early enough to snag a prime spot for admiring this spectacle.
Pizza and spaghetti all’Assassina
We came not just to sightsee, but to eat, too. By complete chance on the maps of a certain overseas tech giant, I found a pizzeria that we could practically see from the hotel. It catered more to the locals than to tourists, but with the help of the aforementioned giant’s translator app, we managed to order a pizza, and from then on, we ate dinner there every evening. Their tuna pizza is an inimitable flavor to this day, despite my many attempts and tests at other pizzerias. They grew to like us at this place (which shouldn’t be surprising) to the point where, even though spaghetti all’Assassina wasn’t on the menu, they whipped it up just for us (it’s a regional version of spaghetti where the pasta is cooked in olive oil and passata, and purposefully slightly burned). It’s really hard to describe this rich flavor, but it’s a very interesting dish.
