Sights in Bari

I have been to Brindisi; so I know why Rick doesn't mention Bari. It is a few miles north of Brindisi. There is nothing of interest to the tourist in either town. Why do you choose Bari? It is only a small fishing village.

I've never been to Bari, but I wouldn't call it a small fishing village, it has a population of over 250,000 people! Bari has a amazing historic center, apparently with a castle and some really neat churches, but if Bari doesn't interest you consider other towns in Puglia including Lecce, Gallipoli, or Santa Maria di Leuca which are all further south.

Bari is probably best known from a tourist standpoint as the place to catch the ferry to Greece (or Croatia). I do not recall much on my way through, but Puglia does have some good food, and I find any Italian city a good place to pass the time. Check out Lonely Planet if you can, they will list a number of things.

Be careful of thieves in Bari. We had someone come up behind us and grab my husband's wallet out of his FRONT pocket. They struggled for a bit before he finally got his hand, and my husband's wallet out of the pocket.

They are bold

Good thing was, he took the $40 and tossed the wallet into the trash where it was found and returned to us. Evidently there is as big penalty for using stolen identity.

As mentioned, there is a castle (one of the many that are scattered around Puglia, and interesting churches. nAlborabello, Martina Franca, Conversano and Monopoli are all close and interesting. If you can manage the time, a having a rental car for a few days would allow you to cover a large part of the region. Castel del Monte (maybe an hour's drive) is wonderful. Rough Guides has a book on Southern Italy. After Sicilia, Puglia is by far my favourite area of Italia.

I found the best information for Bari in the Lonely Planet Italy guidebook - you can see most of the book on Google Books. Also there seemed to be more helpful information on this area of Italy on the Thorn Tree forum on the Lonely Planet site.

We haven't been yet so I can't provide you with first hand knowledge. But I know we will be visiting UNESCO site Alberobello - just an hour and half from Bari by train. We also plan to see the seemingly charming village of Locorotondo.

I was also going to suggest Castle del Monte - the "Blue Guide" I believe covers Bari sights. The town is certainly not a small village (!) and is known to be rather "rough"...lots of places around Bari though that are very popular with tourists!