Puglia in May - Bari

It's a short walk from B&B Germinario to the train station after another delicious brioche with ricotta and almonds for breakfast. Our destination is Bari, a place we've visited several times before but is well worth a revision trip.

The train journey takes about 40 minutes. We haven't travelled by train since COVID-19 started and are impressed by the efficiency of the digital information boards showing not just destinations and stops but also the speed the train is travelling and a map of where it is.

Once in Bari we head to the Pinacoteca Corrado Giaquinto on the fourth floor of an enormous building on the sea front, built during the Facist period. It's worth going up the stairs instead of taking the lift for a look at the stained glass, the stairs themselves and the meeting hall.

The art gallery is free for the over-65s and 3 euros for me. There are some fine paintings by Vivarini in the medieval room, a Saint Peter matyr by Bellini and a selection of modern art including paintings by De Chirico and Moranda.

By the time we come out it's getting on for lunchtime so we walk back to the historical centre and get slightly lost in search of Panificio Fiore where we get focaccia and calzone for lunch on a bench on the sea front.

After lunch we visit the Cathedral where there's another tryptych by Vivarini but too far away to appreciate. San Nicola is always beautiful for the sheer lines of clear stone.

We have coffee and pasticciotto leccese at Martinucci, sitting down this time which means investing 7.80€!

After, we rest for a while near the castle, walk around the historical centre 

and wait for the Concattedrale to open. More white stone except for the unexpectedly baroque crypt. On the way back to the station we discover a second Martinucci in Via Soprano and manage to eat an ice-cream, buy 2 more pasticciotti to take home and get the 5 past 5 train with two minutes to spare.

After a supper, back to the cathedral for the sunset and Trani by dusk, now we're hooked..