Bari

Last weekend I went to Bari, Italy in hopes of doing some family research. Upon arrival though I remembered that no town office in Italy is ever open on the weekends so I wouldn't be able to learn anything new.

I did however visit a Cathedral modeled after the Basilica di Santa Nicola as well as the Basilica itself. They were both absolutely beautiful, and the Basilica had amazing fresco's on the ceiling and a wedding going on. Apparently it's normal for tourists to constantly walk in during weddings and just head down the stairs to the lower monastery. The lower monastery of the Cathedral had an archaeology museum since it had some older churches below it so I checked it out and it was pretty cool.

The lower monastery of the Basilica had candles that you could light next to offering boxes, so I lit a candle for my Great-Grandmother on my mom's side. It felt really good to be there as it's where she was born and it was exciting to explore the place she lived for awhile.

The first part of Bari you see after exciting the train is a very modern looking city, the buildings are all the same height and it's on a grid pattern. Old Bari is in the back of the city next to the sea and there you'll find a traditional winding streets, and old style Italian homes. It's back here where they have a castle, and I took a free night time tour of it. The tour was only in Italian so I understood next to nothing but it was still cool getting to enter a castle.